BBC World News America viewers will be familiar with Matt Frei, its Washington correspondent and presenter. If they like the British journalist's television personality they will probably enjoy Only in America, an astute attempt to probe beneath the skin of the US in general and Washington, DC, in particular. Frei, who moved to the capital with his family in 2002, writes about the quirks of living in his Tilden Street home, minutes away from the White House. Nothing like his flat in Hong Kong, the Frei house is part of a 'neighbourly package' where it is no big deal if you forget to lock your front door. But it is also a place where every morning Frei witnessed the 'theatre of power that is Washington's only real industry'. To ensure former vice-president Dick Cheney made it to his office every day he was escorted by, among other vehicles, two armoured cars, six motorcycles and a helicopter. The book, which takes readers up to Barack Obama's presidential victory, gives snapshots of what it is like to live under surveillance and in fear of attack (by terrorists or snipers). It also scrutinises the religious right and shows why the clich? of America's being such a melting pot is a myth.