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I'm interested in what it means to live in America. I'm interested in the kind of country that we live in and leave our kids. I'm interested in trying to define what that country is. I got the chutzpa or whatever you want to say to believe that if I write a really good about it, it's going to make a difference.

Americans, perhaps more than most people, have pondered the question of who they are and what their country is.

I just like the United States, and I like being an American.

What does it mean to be an American? While each of us may have our own specific answer to that question, we likely can agree on the basic principles of America: freedom, equal opportunity, and rights accompanied by responsibilities.

Being an American is something I wanted to be for a very long time, probably since I saw the moon landing when I was a child.

I'm an immigrant and I've always wanted to write something about America.

I am passionately interested in understanding how my country works. And if you want to know about this thing called the United States of America you have to know about the Civil War.

I want England to understand - the rest of the world to understand - what is going on in America. And I want America to understand what is going on in the rest of the world.

To be an American is to be part of the world because America, all the people of the world come to America.

One thing I'm interested in is what shapes us: the people? The place where we live? It's both of those and more. That's what I keep coming back to.