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stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
I was not always enamored of Taibbi's style (his frequent use of "retarded" comes to mind) but I enjoyed the somewhat balanced look into the lives of conservative American Christians.
motormommy's review against another edition
4.0
Matt seems like kind of a jerk, albeit one I wouldn't mind having a long conversation with. I feel like he's done what few other liberals are willing to do- explore the "other" side. In this case it is the extreme of that side- a fundamentalist church in TX. He's kinder to them than I expected. I'm not sure his foray into the 9/11 Truther movement provides a perfect opposite to that extreme, but he doesn't explicitly state that's what he's trying to do anyway. He is brutally honest about his position as a journalist and seems aware that his information-saturated world isn't one in which the average American lives. His theories seem viable and for a book published in 2008, the election of last year is cued up nicely. This is a brutal but riveting political read regardless your political persuasion.
lunchlander's review
3.0
I'm a fan of Taibbi's writing, and there's a lot to like about this book. Taibbi gives a pretty insightful look into the world of people who I honestly don't understand at all, the 9/11 Truthers on the far left and the Evangelicals on the far right, with a stop off in the middle to point out how hopelessly corrupt and f*cked our political system is.
It's a depressing book, but also a funny one. And there's something comforting about the full-blown, detached from reality insanity of those in Hagee's ministry in San Antonio... I've always wondered how otherwise reasonable people could believe some of these things, and it seems clear that these people, at least, aren't otherwise reasonable.
The book is also quite funny at times, particularly Taibbi's outrageous lies (swallowed whole) in his "cover story" to Hagee's folks.
The biggest problem is that Taibbi wraps his viewpoint in cynicism, putting himself above the rest of us, and offers up a conclusion of basically "We're all screwed, it's getting worse" with no particular suggestions as to how things might get better. It's a hopelessly dark and cynical outlook that makes the book at times feel a little bit whiny, a little bit like political emo.
It's a depressing book, but also a funny one. And there's something comforting about the full-blown, detached from reality insanity of those in Hagee's ministry in San Antonio... I've always wondered how otherwise reasonable people could believe some of these things, and it seems clear that these people, at least, aren't otherwise reasonable.
The book is also quite funny at times, particularly Taibbi's outrageous lies (swallowed whole) in his "cover story" to Hagee's folks.
The biggest problem is that Taibbi wraps his viewpoint in cynicism, putting himself above the rest of us, and offers up a conclusion of basically "We're all screwed, it's getting worse" with no particular suggestions as to how things might get better. It's a hopelessly dark and cynical outlook that makes the book at times feel a little bit whiny, a little bit like political emo.
paladintodd's review against another edition
4.0
Educational, plenty to think about, but boy is this depressing.
I'm not sure I buy his premise - that the political system is so warped, so un-understandable, that it drives people to crazy ideas. A simpler explanation would be that people are just dumb.
Especially depressing is the epilogue. It seems to be a tacked-on ray of hope after a full book length of despair. Like he realized the book was depressing but wanted to end on an upnote (a totally bullshit position given what he had just wrote, something he rallied against in the book itself). The depressing part of this was this great line about America - "an utterly hopeless situation, the kind of malestorm of pointlessly destructive behavior and willful misunderstanding that could leave us all fucked for a generation". He meant that as upbeat - something we might avoid. He wrote it in 2008 though - just before the birth of the Tea Party, birthers, obstructionist Republicans, and a government shutdown. Rather than the epilogue being a ray of hope against that, it turns out to be prophetic. Perhaps God finally did get Taibbi to speak in tongues.
If pre-2008 was Derangement, I'm not sure what work would apply today.
I'm not sure I buy his premise - that the political system is so warped, so un-understandable, that it drives people to crazy ideas. A simpler explanation would be that people are just dumb.
Especially depressing is the epilogue. It seems to be a tacked-on ray of hope after a full book length of despair. Like he realized the book was depressing but wanted to end on an upnote (a totally bullshit position given what he had just wrote, something he rallied against in the book itself). The depressing part of this was this great line about America - "an utterly hopeless situation, the kind of malestorm of pointlessly destructive behavior and willful misunderstanding that could leave us all fucked for a generation". He meant that as upbeat - something we might avoid. He wrote it in 2008 though - just before the birth of the Tea Party, birthers, obstructionist Republicans, and a government shutdown. Rather than the epilogue being a ray of hope against that, it turns out to be prophetic. Perhaps God finally did get Taibbi to speak in tongues.
If pre-2008 was Derangement, I'm not sure what work would apply today.
jrc2011's review against another edition
Just awful - zero stars. If you're a "bro" - you'll enjoy it. He writes like he thinks he's hilarious but he's really arrogant and boring.
jpowerj's review against another edition
5.0
Taibbi, I think, genuinely tries to understand the socio-cultural factors that lead people to join "fringe" groups like born-again christians and 9/11 truthers. Honestly, dude has 1000x more patience with them than I would ever have... but the highlight of the book is the contrast of these "conspiracy theories" with the actual ineptitude of our political leaders to actually represent their constituents. Basically, you come away thinking like "these people (truthers/born-again people) give our leaders wayyyy too much credit, if they actually think congressmen/senators have the capacity to pull of some shit like that)". I highly recommend it, you can read it in like one day too.
catbooking's review against another edition
5.0
In my opinion quite a populist book, but none the less entertaining. If you are easily offended, especially by offensive language, do not read. Otherwise if you want a small glance into the world of televised and mass member churches, this is certainly a good start, but not the final word. Makes you think of the effect the mass church crowd could have on the events taking place in US.
fshere's review against another edition
4.0
that one chapter where he sneaks into the church retreat is worth the price of the book alone!