Here are a few ideas many Americans profoundly believe in: Greed is good.Wealth trickles down from the rich to the poor.Being rich is a sign of virtue.Poor people have themselves to blame.Gun ownership reduces crime.The market is always right.The US is a democracy.Ronald Reagan was the Greatest American of all time.God created the world in six days, so He is pretty powerful.The very same God protects America.We are the good guys, they are the bad guys, and they could also be: you. This book contains some impressions of the author (who lived in New York City from 1999-2004) and is about American history, the constitution, politics, war, money, religion, violence, values, presidents, generals, crooks, beggars, and preachers; in other words about what makes America tick. Willem de Vries (1942) is a geographer and worked in statistics most of his career. He lives in Amsterdam - The Netherlands.