Kylie Marshall-Bohn

August 29, 2011

Michael Benton

                                Something Like America

            In the book “Someplace Like America” Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson explore real people dealing with economic crises. Most people they interview and get to know are homeless, but its not just an interview they get to know the people on a very personal level, such as sleeping outside with them. They are searching for the real story, and want real answers. 

            One of the first homeless people we get to know goes by the name of “Crazy Red”. Crazy Red lives in Santa Barbara, California and was a Vietnam War veteran. They got to know Crazy Red they followed him around all day seeing what his day to day routine was as a homeless American. Crazy Red also introduced them to many other homeless in that area. That same night they were all set out their sheets and coats to sleep on, but were woken up by flashing lights, yelling, and police charging all of them. They all gathered their things fast and began to run. Dale asked Crazy Red “How can they do this?” and Crazy Red replied, “Where do you think you are? Someplace like America?”

            With that being said Crazy Red named this book, the writer and photographer want us (the reader) think about “someplace like America” as a question and a statement, but they also want us to focus on what this statement/ question means for the cover of the book. They also ask “what do we want to become as we move forward?” On the cover there is a picture of Ken Platt and his son, they did a thirty-year study on the Platt family.  Both writer and photographer want us (the reader) to apply these questions to that picture on the cover. The cover picture explains a story of struggles, worries, and fate in this family’s life.

            “Someplace like America,” explains the “human side” of where we are in the economic world today, and how many people are “trapped” in this crisis. It also describes how America has a huge unemployment rate. These are two main factors to why there are so many homeless people. The book states that our “business and political leaders have failed us (the People) and have done this repeatedly.” This is very true in today’s America, so many important leaders that the US people trust are “screwing us” in the long run, and its been happening for to long. The book also describes how we are at a “cultural and economic turning point”. Which maybe a reason for all the madness in America, there needs to be a change.

            Over this book has caught my attention to a very important struggle America is having, it is effecting everyone, everywhere. This book is a real eye opener to what real people are going through, it’s the truth. This book breaks down the causes of their problems and the effects that it has made on people lifestyle and their family.