Cultural Writing. In this meticulous "expose" which manages to be humorous while yet compelling, the highly-priased novelist Alan Goldfein tackles The European Reality and The American Delusion - about itself and Europe. He lives there half the year, and focuses his clear writer's eye on bringing to light the ways in which America does suffer in a face-off with the "old world." The author has deftly taken the unique approach of exploring Europe in order to better understand America. By aiming at the problems we face from the vantage point of some of our cultural brethren across the Atlantic, Goldfein is able to cast a broader light on what must be done to fire up our own national renewal.