Novel was liked — where Capote would have put his foot down? (8)
I believe the answer is:
sidewalk
'where capote would have put his foot down?' is the definition.
(Truman Capote was American)
'novel was liked' is the wordplay.
'novel' indicates an anagram.
'was'+'liked'='wasliked'
'wasliked' with letters rearranged gives 'SIDEWALK'.
(Other definitions for sidewalk that I've seen before include "Pavement (US)" , "A pavement in America" , "footpath" , "the way, it's American" .)