Culture Shock! USA: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

An expatriate American, I bought CULTURE SHOCK: USA for my Ukrainian girlfriend who wanted to better understand American culture. Before giving the book to her, I read it to see if it would be an enlightening introduction to the culture of the United States.

CULTURE SHOCK: USA is a decent overview of American culture, and its sections on body language and conversation can be of immense help to Europeans. I found the book's section on American education to be honest and straightforward. Regional differences were clearly explained, and the book acknowledged that American is a vast and diverse nation.

However, the book does leave out a few aspects of American culture that foreign visitors should be aware of. The book is correct in saying that Americans are generally friendly to foreigners, but the book does not mention the deep xenophobia and jingoism that are common to Americans, especially those from rural regions. I would have liked a better overview of America's religious...Read more

I bought this book to send to the foreign exchange student that will be living with us this year, and I read it myself before sending it to him. It is really strange to read about your own culture, because there are so many quirks that we have as Americans that we never notice. This book gave me new insight into our culture and behavior. It was definitely fun, and prompted a great deal of introspection. It is well written, but sometimes odd in style, using words and phrases that just don't sound "American". If you can get past that, it is really worth reading, even for an American, and perhaps especially for an American.

I have read six other Culture Shock books. Those are interesting and well researched. However, Culture Shock USA is the opposite. It deals far more with everyday life, than with the USA, with knowing little about what aspects of American life would be a problem or a surprise to a foreigner (apparently most Americans wouldn't know). I have read a few other interesting and well researched books about the USA, e.g. Coping with America by Peter Trudgill, which I would recommend instead.