From perfectly formed potatoes to adulterous US presidents, and from domestic upsets to millennial fever, Bill Bryson just cannot resist airing his opinions and standing up for his (mostly) law-abiding fellow American citizens. But of course after twenty years in England, he is now back on the other side of the pond, and is obviously having a little trouble finding his true American self again.

After vigorous exercise on the Appalachian Trail comes this edited collection of Bryson’s most splenetic comic pieces culled from his humorous regular column in the Mail on Sunday.