Really enjoyed this book, which is basically a buddy road trip, where the buddies barely knew each other beforehand, and one is the single, conservative daughter of an almost president and the other a snarky left-leaning married father of two most remember from I Love the 80s. The book's chapters are broken down into the cities they stopped in during their cross country tour, and it's in the style of he said/she said, so you'll get Michael's take on events, then Meghan's. And you spend the first several chapters wondering when they're going to kill each other ;-) but that was the point of the book, to set out to find the real America, not the polar opposites often seen on the news or opinion shows. I like Meghan, especially how she bucks her own party sometimes, most notably on gay marriage and legalizing marijuana. The book did a great job of showing how they were each able to learn a lot about the other's opinions and that for the most part, that Americans are just trying to get by the best they can. It's a great read for anyone, regardless of your political ideology.
That said, I was disappointed that Meghan seemed not to realize some of the hypocrisy in her entries. In one chapter she regrets how America seems to want to pigeonhole women as either virgins or sluts, and there is no happy medium, which I agree with. But then when it comes to patriotism and the military, she gives the impression that either you're 100 percent behind the troops, the war and the president or you're doing a disservice to your country. Why can't there be a middle ground there, where you support the troops that you don't want them sent into harm's way for nothing, and that you'd like question the presidents (either W or Obama) intentions and information to make sure it's for the right reasons? I don't think that makes a person any less patriotic or that they love this country any less.
The other disappointing (but not surprising) thing was that she couldn't understand how Michael, an atheist, could believe in "nothing." As one myself, this common misconception is really annoying. I could make a list of a hundred things I believe in, and I'm sure most would overlap with what Meghan believes in: love, family, music, compassion, helping others, and on and on. The only difference is that my list doesn't include gods. And after spending an entire month on the road getting to know Michael and seeing how he viewed things, and even spending time at his home and seeing what a great father and husband he is, she still mentioned at the end of the book that it was great that they could create such a strong bond with each other, even though he didn't believe in anything. Just remembered that the pair spent time in Salt Lake City, and she left feeling that the Mormons looked down on her because she didn't believe the same things they did. And this was only one chapter after calling atheists "stupid". Perhaps it's just an age thing - she's still young and learning a lot, and even admits her views are evolving, so it will be interesting to see how she looks at things in a few more years.