Bunch of amateurs

by Jack Hitt

Jack Hitt visits a number of different garages to look at America's current batch of amateurs and their pursuits. He not only tells the stories of people in the grip of a passion but argues that America's history is bound up in a cycle of amateur surges. Beginning with Ben Franklin's kite and leading all the way to the current TV hit American Idol, Hitt maintains that the nation's love of self-invented obsessives has always driven the country to rediscover the true heart of the American Dream. Amateur pursuits are typically lamented as a thing of the past until the next Sergey Brin steps...