"This book began in 2014 when Elżbieta Janicka approached Michael Steinlauf about the possibility of conducting a long, multifaceted interview with him. Such an endeavor is a Polish genre known as wywiad-rzeka, interview-river. Over the following years, Janicka and Steinlauf met in Warsaw and Philadelphia, recorded their conversations, in Polish, and assembled them into a narrative which was published in a journal of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. An expanded version was translated by Steinlauf into English. In your hands or on your screen, dear reader, are the results."--Preface.
Originally published in Polish as: "'To nie była Ameryka.' Z Michaelem Charlesem Steinlaufem rozmawia Elżbieta Janicka (Warszawa-Nowy Jork--Warszawa, 2014-2015)," Studia Litteraria Historica 3, no. 4 (2014-15); an expanded version was translated by Steinlauf into English.--Preface.