Amazon.co.uk Review

Stupid White Men, Michael Moore's screed against "Thief-in-Chief" George Bush's power elite, hit No. 1 at Amazon.com within days of publication. Why? It's as fulminating and crammed with infuriating facts as any right-wing bestseller, as irreverent as The Onion, and as noisily entertaining as a wrestling smackdown. Moore offers a more interesting critique of the 2000 election than Ralph Nader's Crashing the Party (he argued with Nader, his old boss, who sacked him), and he's serious when he advocates ousting Bush. But Moore's rage is outrageous, couched in shameless gags and madcap comedy: "Old white men wielding martinis and wearing dickies have occupied our nation's capital.... Launch the SCUD missiles! Bring us the head of Antonin Scalia!... We are no longer [able] to hold free and fair elections. We need UN observers, UN troops". Moore's ideas range from on-the-money (Arafat should beat Sharon with Gandhi's non-violent shame tactics) to over-the-top: blacks should put inflatable white dolls in their cars so racist cops will think they're chauffeurs; the ever-more-Republicanesque Democratic Party should be sued for fraud; "no contributions toward advancing our civilization ever came out of the South [except Faulkner, Hellman, and RJ Reynolds]," because it's too hot to think straight there; Korean dictator Kim Jong-il "has got to broaden himself beyond porn and John Wayne" by watching better movies, like Dude, Where's My Car? (which contains "all you need to know about America"). Whatever your politics, Stupid White Men should make you blow your stack. --Tim Appelo

RELEASE NOTES:

Rescued from the book table yesterday. I'm sure it will be an enlightening read!

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this book is "Hysterically funny". Well, I suppose it is, but it made me sad, angry and depressed.

I think it would be interesting now to read some of Michael Moore's more recent works to see what he has to say about world events since 9/11.

I'm taking this to the Uncon in Brighton on Saturday.

RELEASE NOTES:

I took this to the Uncon but it seems noone picked it up and I guess it must have been set free on the release walk, so I''m now setting the status to travelling.