Lost in North America: The Imaginary Canadian in the American Dream

Lost in North America is a caustic, humorous exploration of a Canada we don’t often talk about-a collective mental creation of great charm and complexity, hovering precariously somewhere in Video North America, in disguise as the most successful colony in the history of the world. Lost in North America is a personal, idiosyncratic tour of the collective work of art called Canada at the close of the 20th century, conducted by a guide who is himself deeply puzzled about his location-a sixth-generation English-Canadian, one of the “hidden people” from the archetypical Canadian village, trained into habits of ritual agreement, oppressive goodwill, in a state of perpetual high anxiety, dogged by the Protestant ethic, dazzled by American culture, maddened by Quebec, distressed by the Native People, deceived by Ottawa, for whom one question remains to be answered: Is any of it real?