EUROPEANS AND AMERICAN POVERTY.

EUROPEANS AND AMERICAN POVERTY. Europeans have always been fascinated by the extremes of American life. I once showed New York City to some French friends on their first evening in the United States. It was an extraordinarily hot August day. At one point, they said they wanted to see the subways. Of course, it was even hotter in the subway. We had to walk a block underground to get to the subway to Greenwich Village, where we were going next. One of my friends had a limp and could only walk slowly. What I at that time would have called a wino or derelict was able to keep up with us as we walked, shouting angry curses at us. I looked over at my friends. They were beaming. This was what they had crossed the Atlantic to experience.