My Discovery of America

It was a fairly quick read, I plopped myself down on the couch this evening and now only a few hours later, I've finished reading the book and done a few quick web searches to access curent imigration law.

The book itself was a fun read, threaded with the humor and wry comments that I've come to love about many of Mowat's books. More than that though it was an eye-opener and I found myself becoming increasingly angry (and concerned) about imigration law. Put simply Mowat was refused entry to the country in the mid 80's under the McCarran-Walter Act a fun little law (repealed in the 90's) that allows the INS to refuse entry to anyone on fairly shallow grounds. In this case Mowat seems to have been denied entry because of his conservation (tree-hugging) beliefs. So although the book was delightful, it gave me a definite chill as it produced definite worries about governmental regulations of freesom of speech. Especially when just a little research seemed to indicate that although this particular act was scrapped in the early 90's, there have been many attempts to bring back pieces of it, and my grasp of government as a foreign language is not good enough for me to fully comprehend current law as laid out the INS information websites.

Altogether worth both a read and some further inquiry. I'm now curious as to whether Mowat has since been granted leave to enter the usa.

Review #2: This is a silly book....
2000-04-02
This is a silly book, about a silly story, about what may even be, quite a silly country. Perhaps you should read it to find out why. Well done, Farley. Obviously not one of your best, yet it had to be written anyway, I suppose...