Gary Younge, a staff writer for the Guardian, arrived in New York in January 2003, to be the paper’s correspondent there. Most of this book includes his writings from those years. They reflect what is good and enraging about the Guardian. Younge had a special characteristic for his job. He is black, of Barbadian

(my spell-checker suggests ‘Barbarian’) parentage. An American colleague told him what to expect: ‘Well, when they hear an English accent Americans usually add about 20 points to your IQ. But when they see a black face they usually don’t. You’ll be an anomaly.’ Younge tells us how astounded many Americans are at his British accent; even American blacks think he is acting. A white American

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