"A darkly comic satire, full of insight into American culture."-Stephen Fry, judge of the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize. “Engaging, funny, ingenious, even charming.”Philip Pullman, judge of the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize. Arnold Brinkman is a shy and retiring botanist; he loves his plants more than his country. But when his refusal to stand for the national anthem at a baseball game causes a major media incident, he is thrown into a world of pushy patriots, preachers and press. And it's not going to get any easier when he refuses to apologise... A hilarious bullet into the heart of modern America, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up mixes the literary sensibilities of Jonathan Franzen with the raucous satire of DBC Pierre. It's the debut novel of one of the most acclaimed and controversial authors to emerge from the USA in years; Jacob M. Appel adds the £10,000 Dundee International Book Prize to a list of prizes that includes the Faulkner-Wisdom Prize for Short Stories and The Boston Review Prize.