America Day by Day

America Day by Day
AuthorSimone de Beauvoir
Publication date
1948

America Day by Day is a 1948 book by Simone de Beauvoir chronicling her trip by road across the United States of America over four months in 1947.[1][2] It was published in French in 1948 with an English translation in 1953. A new translation in English by Carol Cosman with a foreword by Douglas Brinkley was published in 1999 by the University of California Press.[1]

The book grew from the essay "An Existentialist Looks at Americans", published in The New York Times Magazine in 1947.[3] It includes Beauvoir's sociological observations of Americans and American life. In particular, she documents the racial dynamics that she observed, citing the work of Dr. Gunnar Myrdal in his study, An American Dilemma.[4] Beauvoir frames the attitude of white American's toward Black people in terms of bad faith, highlighting the contradiction between the treatment of Black people and the importance of the belief in "the essential dignity of human beings, the basic equality of all men" to white Americans.[5]

During her trip Beauvoir stayed with Richard Wright, an author who wrote both novels and non-fiction works that explored the experiences of Black people in the US. His ideas and conversation were an important part of Beauvoir's developing understanding of race in the country as well as the functioning of oppression.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b America Day by Day. University of California Press. January 1999. ISBN 978-0-520-21067-7. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  2. ^ Simons, Margaret A. (2001-02-07). Beauvoir and The Second Sex. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7425-7127-3.
  3. ^ Cotkin, George (2003). Existential America. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8200-5.
  4. ^ Beauvoir, Simone de; Cosman, Carol; Beauvoir, Simone de (2000). America day by day (1. paperback printing ed.). Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-520-21067-7.
  5. ^ Beauvoir, Simone de; Cosman, Carol; Beauvoir, Simone de (2000). America day by day (1. paperback printing ed.). Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. pp. 237–238. ISBN 978-0-520-21067-7.
  6. ^ Altman, Meryl (2020-08-20). Beauvoir in Time. BRILL. pp. 237–346. doi:10.1163/9789004431218_006. ISBN 978-90-04-43121-8.

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