America A Dream Disturbed

„America ...that splendid, dreadful, funny country – surely the greatest and the drollest of them all” (Portrait of a Lady, Henry James). America is a dangerous place to go. The freedom she confers on her adopted children, the instant feeling of anonymity, and the enormous possibilites – all quintessentially American attributes – are simply too much for the average person to handle safety. These attributes not only create and bring forth; they also destroy – laying low the incapable and the unprepared.