Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bipartisan, But Not Really!, 16 Dec 2007
You MUST buy this book! You WILL buy this book! If you even go this far, you understand (or maybe, as even I don't completely get it all), you will realize that Colbert's humor is the most severely slanted of parodies. But even with every observation or comment, Colbert manages to inflect a bit of `truism' without making you crazy with common sense politics. I have to admit that one highlight is the "speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner" transcript. I would never have the b*lls to stand up there in front of the world and let it fly! I have not had so much fun reading a book about a (so-called) dry subject as politics in...I don't remember! Please vote, even if you are from the United Kingdom!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outrageous, very funny, and outrageous. In that order., 29 Mar 2008
The Daily Show with John Stewart has proven to be the making of many a good American comedian. One of the greatest of these is Stephen Colbert.
Having left the Daily Show in 2005, and as well as participating in many films, the actor Stephen Colbert (with the last `t' pronounced) started a television programme called the Colbert Report (pronounced with silent last `t's). In this show, which is available on the Internet and also on a Region 1 DVD, Stephen Colbert plays a Republican - not just any Republican, but someone who is more to the right than the current president. He frequently asks guests of any political persuasion "President Bush: a great president, or the greatest president?"
And now his book is arriving on British shores, heaven help us all. A video of him promoting this book is on the Amazon.com (American) website (under "I am America (and so can you)").
This book, which took slightly more time than a 2-day weekend to dictate, is full of Stephen Colbert's Truth. And his Truth is not something that you can check with facts from an encyclopaedia, because very often the Encyclopaedia will be wrong - and I know that, because it doesn't have the same "facts" as Stephen Colbert's Truth. Nor, Stephen Colbert checks his Truth with his heart and with his gut; and his Truth is always right by that measurement.
In this book, Stephen Colbert gives you the Truth that you need to have, helpfully arranged under the following topics:
Introduction (an important section. Also includes instructions on how to read the book; without that, you won't get very far in this book.)
The family
Old people
Animals
Religion
Sports
Sex and dating
Homosexuals
Higher education
Hollywood
The media
Class war
Race
Immigrants
Science
A note to the future
Finally, once you have absorbed all of Stephen Colbert's truth, only then will you be able to read the Appendix, the speech which Stephen Colbert made in front of the President of the United States in 2006. The President has not recovered since.
Casual passers-by will flick through the book, and come across phrases such as "racism no longer exists in America", and walk away, open-mouthed. They have just seen Stephen Colbert's truth. Can you handle the Truth?
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stephen Colbert Is the Thinking Person's Archie Bunker for the 21st Century, 15 Oct 2007
When the television series All in the Family came out, it was quite a sensation when Archie Bunker expressed all of the prejudices that we had come to believe were held by white working class members of society in the 1960s through the early 1980s. Just to be sure that no missed the point that the show was a satire, Archie would argue with his liberal college student son-in-law, Michael Stivic (played by Rob Reiner), to bring out the contrasts to Archie's Neanderthal beliefs. Archie (played brilliantly by Carroll O'Connor) was always happy to be right in his own mind, even when proven wrong.
Part of what made the show so funny was to hear someone espousing prejudiced views in a seemingly sincere fashion, with no apologies to anyone.
Stephen Colbert's book, I Am America, captures that same essential humor as he espouses the prejudiced views of the white conservative person . . . but with no one to argue with him except you the reader in your own mind.
If you have ever watched Mr. Colbert perform on television, I'm sure you'll be like me and hear his voice recounting the one-liners. That made it extra fun for me!
The book has an unusual design that adds to the humor, including room for margin and foot notes to spear the points even harder, fictitious essays by average citizens, humorous photographs and illustrations, puzzles, games, stickers, and even a bound-in book ribbon.
Unlike a lot of humor books, he doesn't shy away from the delicate subjects like religion, sex, homosexuals, evolution, and illegal immigrants. Having seen how much fun he had in those areas, it made me wonder why more comedians don't take these areas in "clean" ways like Mr. Colbert does.
The humor often digs into a deeper level, exposing the hypocrisy of self-serving self-promotions that many book authors shamelessly employ, those who failed to act in honorable ways (such as those who produced names of "fellow travelers" for the HUAC in the 1950s), and even the toadying that goes in with regards to Islam in the media.
The only way he could have made this book any funnier would have been to create a state-by-state version of wrong headedness. Perhaps that will be the focus for a future book.
I Am America bears close reading; many of the layers of humor are well submerged below the surface of the main gag. I found myself rereading many sections several times in appreciation for the subtle jokes.
Alas, it's all too true. If you are like me, you'll probably find yourself realizing that you, too, have room to improve.
Bravo, Mr. Colbert!
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