Dave Gorman’s Unchained America
Is it possible to drive across America without giving any money to ‘the man’? No chain stores, no chain motels and no chain petrol stations or gas stations you must, in the 2700 miles from San Francisco to New York. A sort of Naomi Klein Road Trip. What started as an experiment to understand how much America is dependant on ‘chains’, ‘multiples’ or ‘brands’ and to see if you can travel across the country only using ‘independent’ and ‘Mom & Pop’ businesses, it ended up as a wonderful picture of an America that is essentially what we all, even those of us who aren’t Americans, understand the country to be. The backbone of America is not MacDonalds, Starbucks or Wal-Mart but the thousands of small independent businesses that to glue to country together. Dave Gorman gave us a glimpse of an America that might soon be gone forever.
Even the car he drove was a metaphor.
I’d like to know more about this unique journey across America and I think I should take one myself!
Thank you for mentioning Naomi’s book, it reminds me that I have yet to read it. I hear it’s very compelling.
David Unite
I just heard your interview on Nihal’s program on BBC Asian Network today and I thought it was very intriguing.
I live in Atlanta and my family immigrated from the U.K and your comments really highlight what non-american’s know about the U.S.
We always have visitors who think the U.S only consists of New York, LA and Miami whereas in actual fact (as you pointed out) each state is like a different country and so are the people!
It’s a fascinating country and it’ll take a lifetime to see everything here…I’m thrilled that you had the opportunity to make a point and enlighten all of those around you!!