Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here are three such titles, suggested by David Bruce Smith, founder of the Grateful American™ Foundation, in partnership with the Washington Independent Review of Books.

• “The Winds of War: A Novel by Herman Wouk”. This sweeping narrative — along with its sequel, War and Remembrance — chronicles the trauma, glory, and sacrifice experienced by one American family during and after WWII.
• “The Joy Luck Club: A Novel by Amy Tan”. The author’s warm, witty debut tells the story of four Chinese immigrant women and their complex, sometimes fraught relationships with their American-born daughters.
• “Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon”. Although set in the 1970s, this darkly comic, fictionalized account of the Nixon debacle — and some of the major and minor players caught up in it — feels positively timely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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