An American Dreamer, David Finkel
An American Dreamer, David Finkel
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An American Dreamer
Life in a Divided Country

Author: David Finkel

Narrator: Rob Shapiro

Unabridged: 6 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/13/2024


Synopsis

A man navigates the deep divisions in America today and discovers that sometimes change can start by finding common ground with your neighbors in this immersive account by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thank You for Your Service and The Good Soldiers.

“A timely and compelling argument for tolerance and moral character in times of extreme antagonism.”—The New York Times

As this powerful book begins, Brent Cummings finds himself coping with the feeling that the country he loves is fracturing in front of his eyes. An Iraq war veteran, raised to believe in a vision of America that values fairness, honesty, and respect for others, Cummings is increasingly surprised by the behavior and beliefs of others, and engulfed by the fear, anger, and confusion that is sweeping through his beloved country as he tries to hold on to his values and his hope for America’s future.

David Finkel, known for his unique, in-depth reporting, spent fourteen years deep inside Brent Cummings’s world to create this intimate and vivid portrait of a man’s life, his work, family, community, his thoughts, and his quest for connection, as America becomes ever more divided. Cummings was one of the unforgettable figures in Finkel’s The Good Soldiers, a book about which The New York Times stated, “Finkel has made art out of a defining moment in history. You will be able to take this book down from the shelf years from now, and say: This is what happened. This is what it felt like.”

An American Dreamer illuminates, with the deepest empathy, the feelings and lives of many people in America today, and it is a brilliant chronicle of one person’s everyday experiences of frustration, confusion, and hope.

About David Finkel

Serial entrepreneur David Finkel is the CEO of Maui Mastermind®, one of the world's premier business coaching companies, which has worked with over 100,000 business leaders, helping them grow their companies and get their lives back. David's clients enjoy an average annual growth rate five times higher than the average privately held company in the United States, and at the same time, these business leaders have dramatically decreased their working hours. Over the past twenty years, David and the other Maui coaches and advisors have personally started and scaled companies with an aggregate value of $63 billion.

David eats his own cooking which has allowed him the time to start, scale, and sell multiple successful ventures, be on the boards of several other companies, all while holding his working hours to under forty hours per week and taking ten weeks of vacation each year. The Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eleven books, David's syndicated business articles on Inc.com, Fastcompany.com, and Forbes.com have garnered millions of readers. His work has been featured in such prestigious media outlets as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fox Business, MSNBC, and Inc. Magazine.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on December 26, 2023

What were their sacrifices for? Was it all so someone could come along a decade later and get elected president and try to divide the United States into a broken country that would produce even more people ruined by war? from An American Dreamer by David Finkel Two doors down from us is a young family......more

Goodreads review by Brooklyn on October 10, 2023

I read this book as a galley copy from Net Galley and penguin random house. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post journalist, this is the story of Brent Cummings an Iraq war veteran living in suburban Georgia - Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene country- before the 2020 election. Every nig......more

Goodreads review by Judy on April 09, 2024

Story of two Georgia neighbors, one a retired Army Colonel, and the other a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic. One a diehard Democrat, the other a diehard Republican. Interesting read of two totally different personalities, and how they came to their beliefs. But, so what? It didn't seem to relate to an......more

Goodreads review by Carol on April 10, 2024

First, thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I did enjoy this book. It's a fairly easy read. But based on the description, I had higher hopes for it. As a patriotic American, I have been troubled and puzzled for years over the......more

Goodreads review by Gabo on March 12, 2024

Este libro se basa en entrevistas realizadas por el autor David Finkel a veteranos del ejército de Estados Unidos y a sus familiares. La historia intenta mostrar un paralelismo ideológico que ha dividido Estados Unidos en los últimos años. Demócratas vs Republicanos, conservadores vs progresistas, d......more


Quotes

“A poignant account of the social and political mood in the United States during Trump’s presidency . . . a timely and compelling argument for tolerance and moral character in times of extreme antagonism.”—The New York Times

“A keenly observed depiction of a divided country . . . People are complicated. And one of the strengths of this excellent book is how deftly Finkel presents those complications. . . . In this intimate, remarkable book, Finkel lets us inside the worlds of two imperfect men. By doing so, he helps us understand the fragmented reality that is America today.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“An intimate look at American lives in fraught times. . . an immersive portrayal of contemporary America, from Election Day 2016 through Election Day 2020, through the eyes of Iraqi war veteran Brent Cummings, his family, and his neighbors in a town in Georgia . . . . a sharply observed depiction of a divided country.”Kirkus Reviews
 
“A beautifully rendered, sensitively told story about a veteran who returns home to a nation where many things are changing or already altered forever.”Library Journal

“Brilliantly reported and staggeringly important, An American Dreamer delivers a gripping story that is as illuminating and poignant as it is a punch in the gut.”—Beth Macy, New York Times bestselling author of Dopesick

“For anyone hoping to understand what has become of America these past twenty years, An American Dreamer is indispensable.”—Ben Fountain, bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

“In a lovely Atlanta suburb, two neighbors, both decent yet damaged men, find themselves on opposite sides of the fault line in a fracturing America. Finkel’s account is poetic, profound, and irresistibly page turning. It’s The White Album for a new decade of division and dissolution.”—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Horse

“Here Finkel presents immersive, engaging, and incredibly well-written reporting on Cummings’ frank observations about friends, neighbors, and passers-by. Cummings watches Donald Trump stoke and amplify racism and hate, and questions which is the real America. . . . Finkel beautifully captures this contentious moment in our history. Focused in perspective but enormous in impact.”—Booklist

“Drawing on conversations with Cummings and his friends and family, primarily between 2016 and 2021, Finkel finds that the unifying belief among those he interviews—across the political spectrum—is the idea that the country is fracturing. . . . An evocative contribution to the shelf on what ails America in the age of Trump.”—Publishers Weekly