A review by paulsnelling
Wake Up: Why the World Has Gone Nuts by Piers Morgan

1.0

This is a bit of a pup. I bought it because I thought it was going to be a sustained analysis but in fact it’s just a diary which stops mid-month presumably to meet the production schedules wishing to capitalise as his notoriety transformed itself into the self-appointed holder of the government to account. The current so-called culture wars are certainly in need of critical examination and discussion, but you won’t find much of that in this repetitive book. Basically it’s a tabloid ranty-editorial stretched to 330 pages. There’s apparently some recognition about how he has moved on from sniping about Meghan Markle so it’s a little ironic to be reading this (mercifully swiftly) in the week since the tantrum (his not hers). I find myself agreeing with him on some issues, but that’s not because there’s a persuasive argument, which I understand to be a reasons and logical movement towards a conclusion. Here, there’s just very shouty appeals to self-evidence, which is basically what he accuses his opponents of. He moans about lack of nuance but paints in heavy strokes with the broadest brush. He complains about public shaming but says in claiming credit for a government reverse of NHS car parking charges that, ‘sometimes you just have to publicly shame people into doing the right thing’. That’s not the only thing that he takes credit for, by the way, there’s Captain Tom’s knighthood amongst others in a volume which despite occasional claims to the contrary, oozes with self regard, making laughable his baiting of celebrity narcissists. Piers Morgan is certainly a product of the times, and I’m sure that this book will sell very well because it is confrontational and superficial. That’s one of our problems, and this book is much more likely to contribute to it than challenge it. Worth a read though. It won't take long.