The British have long cast a bemused eye on America - the stateside adventures of Mrs Trollope and Dickens in the 19th century prefigured Alistair Cooke's genial Letter from America, which delighted millions on both sides of the Atlantic for more than half a century. Matt Frei - the Washington-based presenter of BBC World News America - brings the genre up to date with these essays on life in the US in the first decade of the new millennium. They will amuse, interest and occasionally frustrate readers.