{"product_id":"god-bless-america-stories-paperback","title":"God Bless America: Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSteve Almond\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWINNER, PATERSON FICTION PRIZE\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFINALIST, FOREWORD BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOUTSTANDING COLLECTION, THE STORY PRIZE \u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLONGLIST, FRANK O'CONNOR INTERNATIONAL STORY PRIZE\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBRONZE MEDALIST, INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e From a \"gifted storyteller\" who delivers \"always enjoyable, often hysterical stories\" (\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e) comes a meditation on the American Dream and its discontents. In his most ambitious collection yet, Steve Almond offers a comic and forlorn portrait of these United States: our lust for fame, our racial tensions, the toll of perpetual war, and the pursuit of romantic happiness. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In the exuberant title story, a hapless would-be actor, desperate to escape the drudgery of his existence, lands the role of a lifetime. In \"Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched,\" reprinted in \u003cem\u003eBest American Short Stories\u003c\/em\u003e, a psychoanalyst with a secret gambling addiction squares off over the poker table against a damaged ex-patient. In \"First Date Back,\" a young woman becomes the target of a traumatized soldier's misguided hopes for love. And \"A Dream of Sleep,\" the collection's final story, presents a grief-stricken refugee who tends the graves of a forgotten cemetery, only to have his fragile peace shattered by an unwelcome visitor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Each of these thirteen stories is an urgent investigation of America's soul, its particular suffering, its injustices, its possibilities for redemption. With deft sleight of hand, Almond, \"a writer who knows us as well as we know ourselves\" (\u003cem\u003eHouston Chronicle\u003c\/em\u003e), leavens his disappointment and outrage with a persistent hope for the men and women who inhabit his worlds. \u003cem\u003eGod Bless America\u003c\/em\u003e offers us an astonishing vision of our collective fate, rendered in Almond's signature style of \"precise strokes . . . with metaphors so original and spot-on that they read like epiphanies\" (\u003cem\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/em\u003e). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSteve Almond is the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, including the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e Bestsellers \u003cem\u003eCandyfreak\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAgainst Football\u003c\/em\u003e. His most recent story collection is \u003cem\u003eGod Bless America\u003c\/em\u003e. His stories have been anthologized widely, in \u003cem\u003eThe Best American Short Stories\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Pushcart Prize\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBest American Erotica\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eBest American Mysteries\u003c\/em\u003e series. His essays and reviews have appeared in the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e, and elsewhere. He teaches at the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard, and hosts the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e podcast \"Dear Sugars\" with fellow writer Cheryl Strayed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 211\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.4 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 25, 2011\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAward:\u003c\/strong\u003e Independent Publisher Book Awards (2012)\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAward:\u003c\/strong\u003e IndieFab awards (2011)\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51772793356576,"sku":"9780984592234","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/a380cc57b9111fb10a8f809c60922a3d.webp?v=1780414474","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/god-bless-america-stories-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}