In 1930, a delegation of fourteen journalists from Central and Northern Europe were invited to the U.S., among them Felix Salten who represented the Austrian newspaper Neue Freie Presse.

The guests visited different parts of the U.S., met with citizens and dignitaries, including the President of the U.S. and Henry Ford, and saw American nature.

These feuilletons (nineteen of them) were then compiled into a book Fünf Minuten Amerika and published by Paul Zsolnay Verlag the next year, 1931.

In his book, Salten provides subjective observations of American society and nature, and the main emphasis is on his personal impressions and opinions.

[4] He visited Ford’s factory in Detroit and a slaughterhouse in Omaha and describes the mechanical killing of animals and recycling of used cars which proceeds on a conveyor belt, feeling both fascination and abhorrence.

Salten did have difficulties in identifying himself with the black race and he used old racial terminology of his era[3] but he struggles to maintain an open mind.