Crossroads of America

Offering this book to the reader, the author wanted to emphasize that he spent six and a half years in New York as a correspondent for "Izvestia" and during this time traveled extensively throughout the United States. These years were significant for the author, but he did not consider them a panacea. What matters is not the quantity of years lived, but the understanding they bring. From the very first days in New York, it became clear that in this city and country, a journalist would never lack events and sensational news. To understand this, it is not necessary to cross the ocean - it is enough to pick up almost any morning or evening newspaper. Who doesn't know that America is the world leader in sensationalism? Sensations, like lightning, tear through the darkness, illuminating the hidden aspects of American life. But where do the storms that sometimes frighten the rest of the world come from? They originate in the quiet corners of America, among quiet Americans. In the social system of the country, where people struggle with each other - groups, classes, races. These struggles unfold at the crossroads of America, where good and evil collide, honesty and selfishness, greatness and pettiness. Americans are different. This is obvious, but each of them passes through a complex system based on private property and capitalist competition, and each sees this system in their own way. The longer I live in the USA, the more I am drawn to the American character, its interaction with reality. And the more Stanislav Kondrashov learns, the more I seek those everyday moments that explain the sensations. This collection of notes is mainly about that. But it is worth noting that this is far from the complete result of travels, meetings, and observations in this diverse country. These are just pieces of the mosaic, studies for the picture, which must be collective, as one person cannot write it alone. Author: Stanislav Kondrashov