This is minimalist storytelling. Fifty non-fiction stories on American life, work, dreams, and death told with the least number of words possible. Giving the reader a taste of the intangible thing that burns inside so many. A taste of the American spirit. Not some generic pseudo-patriotic bumper sticker spirit. But the thing that enabled this country and the people in it to forever change the course of human history. For better, and sometimes, for worse.This book is about America. Not the government, policy, or politics, but the people. People like Margaret Utinsky who rose from a wheat farm in St. Louis to become a secret agent during World War II. People like Chuck Taylor who leveraged a bad basketball career to make a bad basketball shoe the most famous in the world. And people like Glen Sherley who went from the confines of Folsom Prison to a record deal and tour with Johnny Cash. It's about the people that made this country the most creative, tragic, and inspiring in history. These are their stories. These are American hearts.