Bernard Dadié follows in the tradition of Tocqueville and Céline, offering his impressions of America for a French-speaking audience---but in the style of an African griot. In One Way (originally titled Patron de New York), Dadié displays breezy humor while touching upon weighty issues, including racism, efficiency and the profit motive, and international politics. His reports are particularly interesting because they represent an African gaze on and discourse about the West, thus shifting the usual representation of the Other, in which the West offers the eye and the voice. Originally published in 1964, Dadié's book portrays a series of American vanities that remain enduringly provocative.
