Hardcover. New York, Seven Stories Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 127 pages, very clean and tight copy. With America ever under global scrutiny, Russell Banks contemplates the questions of our origins, values, heroes, conflicts, and contradictions. He writes with conversational ease and emotional insight, drawing on contemporary politics, literature, film, and his knowledge of American history.