Charlie LeDuff doesn’t mince words. And if he does mix his metaphors, it is only to illustrate a point that could not be made in any other way. “Identity is a witch’s brew” he says in his book, “US Guys.” Indeed it is.

It is this tricky concoction of nature versus nurture, community versus hegemony, blood versus brains that he addresses in his latest book, US Guys: the True and Twisted Mind of the American Man. The book is aptly titled as it does contain a certain quantity of the gonzo-journalist machismo made famous by the likes of Kerouac and Thompson. Unlike Kerouac and Thompson, the focus of LeDuff’s stories are broader and yet … more intimate. And, if possible for a book entitled US Guys, are less focused on the “man” and more on the identity. In fact, the book is a collection of identities: identities in conflict, identities in harmony and identities in limbo, all in negotiation with our American society as a whole.

An Ojibway on his mother’s side and a Creole on his father’s, LeDuff’s background does not so much inform his work as it seems to drive him to explore what makes up the American identity, what qualifies it specifically as “American.” When asked for his thoughts on his own identity in society, his answer was pretty simple, “I’m American, you know? American-American.” Make no mistake though, LeDuff does not subscribe to the “freedom fries” loving, 100% all-beef label that many non-US folks like to pin on us. Instead he uses this label as a jumping off point to mobilize the infinite individualities, the countless identities that ultimately make up our country – that make us all 100% American.

I had the chance to shoot the breeze with Charlie concerning his new book, his thoughts on the status of the American Man, why a woman should write US Gals, and lastly, who his favorite Indian of all time is.  His answer, of course, befits the question.