A shameless plug for the sterling work of one of our own. 

AA Gill, aka Uncle Dysfunctional of this parish (see p33), has a new collection of essays out in which he turns his attention to that most gargantuan of nations and subjects: America (he's actually part-Yank, you know).

Of course, he's as craftily observant and intelligently witty as ever; there aren't many books where you can read both a retelling of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and a discussion of the residual effects of the psyche of German settlers, or sentences such as: "America's greatest single gift back to the Old World is the blowjob". Illuminating stuff.

The Golden Door by AA Gill is out now (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)