Lawrence R. Samuel's The American Dream: A Cultural History peaked my interest the second I saw the blurb--I love me some non-fiction to break up my imagination-fare.

Samuel traces the origins of the "American Dream" from it's original incarnation in 1931 (although it was addressed under other titles before that) to our current understanding of what the dream is and how to achieve it. It turns out that the definition of the "American Dream" is not as easy to determine as one might think; it represents different dreams for each American. It also doesn't help that what we originally believed was the dream--owning a home, doing better than our parents, living your best life--has now become more of the European dream than the American one.

I found this book to be very in-depth and well-examined. Samuel pulls no punches and lays down the facts as you need to understand them. This book is a survey of our understanding of the "American dream" from start to present (since, you know, we will never be finished per se). Reading this gave me exactly what I needed and expected from the book: a genuine understanding of the origins of the term and the idea, and the understanding of the effects of history on the idea (and ideal) of the "dream," as well as the differences in beliefs of the "dream."

The most interesting nugget that I took out of this book was understanding the new social strata that we as Americans have formed--it is now less about where you come from, whom your family is, and what pedigree you are (think The Age of Innocence and the like), but what you do that defines you as your social class.

I appreciate non-fiction books that get to the point and make sure that the reader can understand what is being presented. Samuel uses normal-people language and never speaks over his readers' heads. This is so appreciated when I pick up a book that is not in my field of study. I learned something new and enjoyed myself at the same time. What does that spell? S-U-C-C-E-S-S. [Yes, this means you should also read it.]