Lee Foster's book Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time is based on a provocative premise. The premise is that we live in both the most wondrous and the most horrific time ever to be alive. The task of an informed Everyman and Everywoman in our time is to reconcile those polar opposites in our sensibilities and lead constructive lives. Lee presents 25 essays in the book that use places in his worldwide journeys as jumping off points for the discussion. At Canaveral in Florida he celebrates the fact that we have ventured into space and put a man on the moon. In the decimated Atlantic rainforests outside of Rio he experiences that this rainforest has been 90% destroyed, with irreversible loss of species. The resolution of these polar opposites is not easy, but Lee Foster believes there is a way to deal with it. As he writes in the introduction, "If I look squarely at life, with unflinching clarity, yet with sufficient imagination, striking a balanced perspective, perhaps only then can I continue living in a healthy, constructive manner and not be overwhelmed by pessimism and despair."