First up, Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach! 
Written in the 1970's, in the American literary dream area of moving past the ills of the 70's and looking forward to a brighter future (most looking forward to the 1990's). Callenbach novel focus on the diary and reports of an American report in a fictional country made up of the former pacific northwest of the united states. The main character is an American reporter named Williams Weston. in the 20 years since independence the pacific northwest has transformed into a totally separate nation. No American has had a official visit to Ecotopia since it achieved independence. Being a reporter Weston is curious but not sympathetic at first. A point that is made in this novel is that a strangest culture can be the one just a few counties over or in this case a COUNTRY next door. Weston sheds his suit for the more casual clothing of Ecotopia in order to gain a understanding of them in a classic example of a fish out of water. This little Expedition had been arranged for Weston by the U.S. Gov. His goal is to get an interview with the president of Ecotopia Vera Allwen. Weston explores a strange nation in it's capital of San Francisco, and explores such strange things as the clothing, food policy's, hotel rooms, tech, customs and people who's smugness makes pollution seem bearable. Weston eventually moves in with a journalism co-op gaining a sort of Ecotopian surget family. He also falls for a girl who's brother was apart of the revolution and is also a total ass.