Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Michael Moore is a muckraker, an American original, and a versatile and funny man. He has written a noisy and important book. Despite its jokey title, it's about lots more than "stupid white men." Moore is righteously indignant about out current American state of affairs: the huge disparity between rich and poor, racism, pollution, unemployment, sinking educational standards, women's issues, American violence and media culture. (When he likes someone or something, you know it, too.). He supports his opinions with facts and figures. Helpfully, he includes specific instructions to readers who might want to contact their Congressional Representative (an act that Moore asserts can be quite effective), organize in their own communities, and intelligently make a difference. Moore's first and easiest target in this book is the current administration and, in his view, wholly illegitimate ascendancy to the Presidency of George W. Bush. Moore is irate about what he views as Bush's appalling lack of "Presidential" qualifications, his untruthfulness regarding his past, and his vast array of family and financial connections. Moore's retelling of the stealing of the election, via the delivery of the Florida vote before the election ever took place (by the pre-Election day illegal disenfranchisement of thousands of Democratic voters) will shock readers. Although ignored by US media when it broke, it is factual, and it is appalling. Moore's style, unfortunately, is part student activist and part class clown. This clash of roles is at times a hindrance to his effectiveness. He is funny, and he loves to kid around, but at times his humor is slapstick - which didn't always work for me. He sometimes tends toward sarcasm, or volume (he will use all caps, for emphasis) which isn't really necessary given the importance of his message. In addition, disconcertingly, the book's tone changes midway through. In the first half Moore supplies the reader with a variety of important lists: "How to Stage the Countercoup," a sensible how-to for community organizers; "Survival Tips for White America," which is a serious discussion of ways to end racism; and the useful "Guide to Student Rights." Inexplicably, though, halfway through this book his lists change, and become jokey. "How to Use Less Gas," for example, has among its bullet points "Siphon gas from parked cars at airports," "Hitchhike," and "Live in your office or place of work." His chapter on gender issues is very funny, but I'm not quite sure why it's in the book. He is serious, but then he jokes at times about surviving global warming, recycling, and gender issues, too - at the expense of his thesis, which is that things are messed up and badly need changing if the people (_all_ the people) of the US are to thrive. This an important book with more than several messages toward advancing an old institution Moore thinks is definitely worth saving: American democracy. "Stupid White Men" is deadly serious in places, and funny in others, and well worth reading.