Mr. American
by George MacDonald Fraser

Our Price: $44.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.89 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of Mr. American

Book Review: A Very Comfortable Read
Summary: 5 Stars

Mr. American contains his usual historical accuracy, though it's not intended to be as funny as the Flashman series. Harry Flashman shows up though, but in this book he is used to decry the folly of war, in most of its forms, certainly that of WWI.

The title character is an American who becomes an observer of the decadence of post Victorian England, as well as one welcomed into it, as long as he is useful to those snobs whose society he is invited to enter. Whether he is to be amusing to King Edward, or to use his money to restore his wife's family fortunes, he is brought into the swim, only to find that it is a shallow pool indeed.

But along the way he comes into contact with delightful and trustworthy characters, none of whom are of the upper class, and it is these characters who make the snobs, by comparison, seem so feckless. Pip is as wonderful as Samson is loyal and unperturbable. It is these characters, and Prior and Thornhill, whom we are able to compare and contrast with Percy, the Claytons and those who surround the King. Pip, like most people who are positive and seemingly without a care, is in fact very ethical, supportive of her family, and without guile. The others, in their own ways, represent bedrock values and character, quite a contrast to the carefree, unethical, and undignified society people.

I highly recommend this book, for its sheer pleasure of reading it.

Action & Adventure Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction
• Historical
• Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical