{"product_id":"bunch-of-amateurs-a-search-for-the-american-character-jack-hitt","title":"Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character Jack Hitt","description":"\u003cp\u003eFIRST EDITION. Hardcover in DJ in Good Condition\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat is it that drives the success of America and the identity of its people? Acclaimed writer and contributing editor to \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e Jack Hitt thinks it's because we're all a bunch of amateurs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAmerica’s self-invented tinkerers are back at it in their metaphorical garages—fiddling with everything from solar-powered cars to space elevators. In \u003ci\u003eBunch of Amateurs\u003c\/i\u003e, Jack Hitt visits a number of different garages and has written a fascinating book that looks at America’s current batch of amateurs and their pursuits. From a tattooed young woman in the Bay Area trying to splice a fish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt (all done in her kitchen using salad spinners)\u003cbr\u003eto a space fanatic on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes from his mobile home, Hitt not only tells the stories of people in the grip of a passion but argues that America’s history is bound up in a cycle of amateur surges.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeginning with Ben Franklin’s kite and leading all the way to the current TV hit\u003ci\u003e American Idol\u003c\/i\u003e, Hitt argues that the nation’s\u003cbr\u003elove of self-invented obsessives has always driven the country to rediscover the true heart of the American dream. Amateur pursuits are typically lamented as a world that just passed until a Sergey Brin or Mark Zuckerberg steps out of his garage (or dorm room) with the rare but crucial success story. In \u003ci\u003eBunch of Amateurs\u003c\/i\u003e, Hitt argues that America is now poised to pioneer at another frontier that will lead, one more time, to the newest version of the American dream.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ex Libris Used Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43740037644515,"sku":"EXL955","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0562\/5675\/7951\/products\/13153485.jpg?v=1677683956","url":"https:\/\/www.exlibrismichigan.com\/products\/bunch-of-amateurs-a-search-for-the-american-character-jack-hitt","provider":"Ex Libris Used Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}