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Reading by Tom Buhrow and Sabine Stamer from their book
„My America – your America“
on March 26, 2007 in the Amerika Haus at Munich´s Karolinenplatz
On September 1, 2006, Tom Buhrow succeeded Ulrich Wickert as anchorman of the news broadcast „Tagesthemen“ (Current Affairs) on Channel 1 (ARD). Before that, he was the ARD´s US correspondent for 10 years.
Together with his wife Sabine Stamer, who is also an active journalist, Tom Buhrow published the book „My America - Your America“ for the Rowohlt publishing house in August of 2006. Some of the chapters in that book were written in a joint effort by the couple, while others simply reflect the individual interests of each author.
They are not only familiar with the official America, but also the private America with all its peculiarities, its strange, yet lovable sides and its often intense inner contradictions. They find answers to questions like why any non-native speaker should not care to ponder too long over the formulaic „How are you!“, why many believers accept long commutes to visit their church, why the car is the most important place on Earth for adolescents, and why visiting a cemetery doesn´t necessarily have to take very long. Based on their own experiences, enriched with background knowledge, facts and figures, the two authors familiarize us with America´s contemporary everyday life: with manners and bad habits, lack of restrictions and unwritten laws, with politics and personal lives. A well-informed, original and entertaining portrait of present-day America that acknowledges the downsides, but in essence shows a high degree of sympathy for a country worth re-discovering again and again. Beside all his compassion for the „American way of life“, Tom Buhrow, a self-proclaimed „americanophile“, has always kept his distance from the current administration under President George W. Bush.
To quote from an interview for the daily newspaper „Die Welt“: „I love America & I have always found the US hospitable, encouraging and capable of self-control. I like America no less just because Bush is in power. I wouldn´t see it that way. I often defend America when I am in Germany and vice-versa.“
With the Buhrow/Stamer couple's extraordinarily lively and humorous reading, the Amerika Haus Association was able to spread its self-proclaimed position as a mediator for a comprehensive image of America among an interested audience. During the course of the lecture, not only were there many smiling faces, but also hearty laughter and positive, agreeing interjections.
During the subsequent discussion, it turned out that many among those present had had similar experiences with „their“ America. The delight of hearing Buhrow/Stamer´s clever, trenchant observations was certainly enhanced by a „déjà-vu“ experience. This amusing, informative evening proved that we admittedly might think we know America, but that differences do in fact exist and they need to be noticed. |
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