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America Day by Day
Brief Description
Intimate, warm, and compulsively readable, this is Simone de Beauvoir's captivating account of her road trip across America in 1947. In 1947, Simone de Beauvoir took a road trip across America. She travelled from coast to coast, from New York to Hollywood, taking in New Mexico,...
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America Day by Day
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Description
Intimate, warm, and compulsively readable, this is Simone de Beauvoir's captivating account of her road trip across America in 1947.
In 1947, Simone de Beauvoir took a road trip across America. She travelled from coast to coast, from New York to Hollywood, taking in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Washington DC. She rode a pony through the Grand Canyon, listened to jazz in New Orleans, and visited the nightclubs of Chicago. She captured the entire experience in her journal.
This captivating book is that journal and provides an immersive portrait of postwar America. Beauvoir was disturbed by the poverty and segregation she encountered, yet at the same time, she was delighted by American energy and friendliness.
America Day by Day is intimate, warm, and compulsively readable travel writing from the iconic feminist and thinker, Simone de Beauvoir.
On New York: 'I walk between the steep cliffs at the bottom of a canyon where no sun penetrates—it's permeated by a salt smell. Human history is not inscribed on these carefully calibrated buildings—they are closer to prehistoric caves than to the houses of Paris or Rome.'
On Los Angeles: 'I watch the Mexican dances and eat chilli con carne, which takes the roof off my mouth. I drink the tequila and I'm utterly dazed with pleasure.'
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781784879884
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 07 August 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Carol Cosman
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 35.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 200g
Pages: 384
About the Author
Simone de Beauvoir (Author) Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. In 1929 she became the youngest person ever to obtain the agregation in philosophy at the Sorbonne, placing second to Jean-Paul Sartre. She taught at the lycees at Marseille and Rouen from 1931-1937, and in Paris from 1938-1943. After the war, she emerged as one of the leaders of the existentialist movement, working with Sartre on Les Temps Mordernes. The author of several books including The Mandarins (1957) which was awarded the Prix Goncourt, de Beauvoir was one of the most influential thinkers of her generation. She died in 1986.
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