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''Inside U.S.A.'' is a nonfiction book by John Gunther, first published in 1947 and one of that year's best-selling nonfiction books in the United States. It describes the author's observations during 13 months of travel through the 48 U.S. states beginning in November 1944. ==Development of the book== ''Inside U.S.A.'' was the fourth in a series of highly successful "Inside" books written by Gunther. The series began in 1936 with ''Inside Europe'', based on Gunther's experience as a journalist in Europe and described as "a cross between reportage and armchair travel literature."〔 The book sold over 500,000 copies. It was followed by ''Inside Asia'' in 1939 and ''Inside Latin America'' in 1941. Gunther started to plan ''Inside U.S.A.'' as early as 1936, when his idea was to create a two-part book, with the first part focused on the power structure of Washington, DC, and the second part a "snapshot" of the entirety of the United States. He did not begin serious work on the project until 1944, by which time his plan was to write about America from the perspective of an outsider. After living outside the country for more than a decade, he considered himself to have become a become an outsider. He joked that he was "writing for the man from Mars" and that he also was from Mars.〔 In November 1944, after studying U.S. statistics, signing a book contract with a publisher and a second contract under which ''Reader's Digest'' would publish excerpts while he was still writing, and sending a list of questions and interview requests to the governor of every state,〔 he set out to tour the country and interview its prominent citizens, including business leaders, politicians, writers, and academics.〔 Gunther's journey took him to more than 300 communities in all 48 states, including 38 of the 43 U.S. cities that had populations greater than 200,000.〔 By the time of the trip, Gunther was very well known as a journalist and author. His celebrity status not only gave him unusual access to many prominent people, but it also caused his travels to receive a great deal of public attention. Local newspapers often covered his visits in front-page news stories. Some civic leaders and politicians who had not been asked to give interviews sought him out in hopes that their perspectives would not be omitted from his book. Gunther became so engrossed in the project that in April 1945 he declined an opportunity to go to Europe just before V-E Day, even though he had spent a significant part of his journalism career as a foreign correspondent in Europe, covering the situations and events that led up to World War II. An external event that did slow the process of writing the book was the fatal illness of Gunther's teenage son Johnny. In April 1946, Johnny was found to have a malignant brain tumor. Gunther managed to continue writing through his son's illness, which he was later to chronicle in the book ''Death Be Not Proud''. ''Inside U.S.A.'' grew much longer than originally planned, which presented a problem because paper was in short supply in the postwar period. When published in May 1946, it totaled 979 pages. The first U.S. printing run was more than 500,000 copies, including 35,000 copies for the book's British publishing house, Hamish Hamilton, which was unable to obtain enough paper to print the book in England. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Inside U.S.A. (book)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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