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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Yes, I am reading this over 15 years after it was published. For a political/ current events book, this is an eternity. What’s more, I loathe politics; so on subject matter alone, I wanted to toss this book after about 25 pages. I continued skimming through the book to then end, however. Why? Two reasons: 1) Al Franken is enormously funny. 2) Al Franken is whip smart. Three stars; one star for the topic, five stars for the delivery.
Comedic look at the media (Bill O, Coulter, Fox news in general) and its LIES!
funny
hopeful
informative
Funny, incisive, and quite frankly horrifying, especially considering that many of the people Franken talks about are still in politics and continue to spin things to shape public opinion today.
This book was written by Al Franken, back when he was viewed more as a comic with a political bent, rather than a politician. It focuses on the naughtiness of the American Right in run up to the 2000 US elections, the election, and 2 years after said US election. It is a little dated now, but it was funny all the same, if you can put up with the datedness.
slow-paced
Al Franken takes a look at the political right during the time of George Bush's presidency. He takes a group of 14 Harvard students and combs through political speeches and news stories - mostly from Fox News - looking for contradictions and then calling those politicians and talking heads on it.
This was an okay book. I did not find it particularly funny, and at times it got a bit dull. I have read funnier and more informational books from left wing comedians. I appreciate that he did use Harvard students to get his research, and I wonder what book he would write now (this one was from 2003). I cannot imagine if he was told in 2003 - "wait until you see what is coming" he would even believe it.
Personally I didn’t find the book funny and kept thinking that this sort of intense satire might actually facilitate ignoring real problems. The author amplifies the distance between everyday views and the incumbent. Somehow it seems logical that the response from an angry right would be to care even less and try to trample the values of this satirical “left”.
Satire works best when it creates new ideas that are not so overtly partisan, rather capture something human and universal.
Satire works best when it creates new ideas that are not so overtly partisan, rather capture something human and universal.
Read this when it came out. Loud, over the top and nasty. Some fun but forgettable.
