A More Goodly Country: A Personal History of America
John Sanford
Introduction by Jack Mearns
April 19, 2023
ISBN 9798218169176 / Paperback / 418 pages / $23.99

A More Goodly Country: A Personal History of America, originally published in 1975, is a searing, poetic, and critical book by author John Sanford (1904–2003) that offers a personal and often harsh look at American history from Leif Erikson to the atomic bomb, written in a variety of authentic voices.

"It was, and it is, an unrelenting and accusatory book. No one who values his country can find its charges easy to bear—and yet I value my country, too, and the book was written only to make it better."
— John Sanford, in his preface to the 1982 Black Sparrow reissue of A More Goodly Country

"This is, quite simply, a noble and beautiful book, savage in its interpretation of our heritage, absolute in its integrity, and almost miraculous in its language."
— The Tennessean (Nashville, TN), May 5, 1975

"It is a work for all time, a work of love, of wry humor, of devastating criticism. . . . It is a work of poetry, a work of greatness, and while it is almost blatantly subjective it is never subservient to any ideology."
— Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, OR), December 27, 1975

". . . an oozing, raucous treat of a book . . . a sprawling chorus on this country, sparing none of the harsh voices, leaving none of our pimples unpicked."
— Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1975

"One day it will be a classic."
— York Daily Record (York, PA), December 27, 1975