The Awful Making of an Optimist is a book by American designer, photographer and writer James A. Reeves (aka KinoSport). James drove around America and documented what he saw in the book through writing and photography.

The back cover reads:

"There was a time when the road to manhood was clear: go to war, find a job with a big company, wear a tie, and start a family. Then the wars got strange and companies changed. What does it take to be a man in America today? Here is an answer as sprawling and chaotic as the country itself

One day James realized he no longer understood his country or what he should be doing in it. He decided to go for a drive to clear his head. The Awful Making of an Optimist is a scattershot journey through the neon corridors and dark corners of America. Cattle auctions in Texahoma. Oil fires burning across the Venice Jump Basin. Kids collecting cosmic rays in the desert. Subway preachers in Brooklyn and security concerns along the Mississippi. Staring at Mexicali through a chain link fence in Calexico. Thirty thousand miles, twelve speeding tickets, and several moments of unexpected kindness, all set to the nervous chatter of talk radio and 24-hour diners as James drives along the back roads taking pictures and looking for answers — and drifts towards a slow reckoning with his own compulsions and unexpected loss."

You can read more about the book on his blog at http://kinosport.tv/projects/i-made-a-book/

James A. Reeves on the web
+ http://kinosport.tv
+ http://facebook.com/kinosport
+ http://flickr.com/kinosport
+ http://twitter.com/kinosport
+ http://www.linkedin.com/in/kinosport

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SML 720p HD Simulcast
+ http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=206445508034
+ http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/4123370189/
+ http://www.vimeo.com/7755918
+ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtF3DMvWGtw

Still photography used in the video
+ http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/4121192390/
+ http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/4123024329/

CC-BY-SA 2009 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML (less info)