- Hardcover
- Publisher: Pantheon Books (Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679472762
- ISBN-13: 978-0679472766
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,097,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
It's 1990 and George Bush's poll rating is rock bottom. There seems no way out until the President remembers a memo from a now-dead aide. Once Bush had considered it the lunatic ravings of a dying man. Now it offers him his only lifeline.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book quite a few years ago, loaning it from a public library, and have since gone back to try and get it again, but to no avail. The book itself tells the "fictional" account of an american agents entanglement in their governments attempts to hide the real 'diversional' reasons for the first gulf war of 1991. In parts like the film 'Wag the Dog' what makes this book more interesing (the narrative drive itself is witty and seemingly intentionally far fetched) is the littering of footnotes, highlighting and revealing some very interesting seemingly facts about America and its ties in the middle east and serves as a history to the underhand dealings between some of the less honest administrations of old. Surprisingly hard to get now (2003) when it seems very relavent.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A fun, cynical book. Buy the paperback edition.
19 Aug 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is a slam-bang masterpiece of political cynicism. But unless you're a collector with a need to own first editions, buy the paperback rather than the hardcover: it adds four chapters that help tie up loose ends and it gives the author a chance to poke fun at himself, among others: "I had written three mysteries with a 'series' character. Although they had -- where the hell are you going to find a writer to refrain from saying this -- great critical success, they had not been nearly as popular as I thought they ought to be. I was in search of the formula for greater commercial success.... I resolved to do two things -- get away from the series and become more centrist. Less humorous. Less cynical. Less thoughtful. Less intelligent."
Readers (and reviewers) who complained that the private-eye thread of this book's dual storyline was merely conventional have missed the point: Beinhart isn't rewriting Mickey Spillane, he's updating Machiavelli.
Beinhart's previous books are also worth seeking out.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
An important novel by an under-rated writer
18 Mar 1998
Format:Mass Market Paperback
There's something about _American Hero_ that pulls at the edges of the reader's mind: you will not turn a page without pausing to think, "Could this really happen? DID this really happen?" I'm a veteran of the Gulf War. I was there. I KNOW what I saw.
And yet...
_American Hero_ is putatively the novel on which the hit film "Wag the Dog" is based. A president intent on reelection, a film producer confronted with the biggest project ever, a war made for the screen. But however much Beinhart's opus depends on the world of film, that paradigm doesn't have enough dimension to capture the essence of _American Hero_ in return. You NEED to read this.
The book is complex, heavily footnoted, and written in such a manner as to prove itself fact or fiction, whichever you prefer to believe. Chances are, you won't KNOW what to believe by time you read the final summation.
Beinhart, whose other work (_You Get What You Pay For_, _Foreign Exchange_ and _No One Rides For Free_, as well as the non-fiction _How to Write a Mystery_) hasn't achieved the popularity it deserves, has delivered a masterpiece.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Fact or Fiction?
1 Nov 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I love a good conspiracy theory and this is one of the best. This was a very interesting novel. The thought had never crossed my mind that the Persian Gulf War was a false war. This opened my mind to the realization that a fake war could be a reality. Although the book begins with the disclaimer,
This is a work of fiction. Many public figures appear in the text. Their speech and actions as depicted here are figments of the author's imagination except where supported by the public record.
, it appeared that the Larry Beinhart knew what he was talking about, that or he has a really great imagination. I really liked the book because it was about the side of politics that no one ever really sees. The dirty, no holds bar, the ends justify the means, kind of stuff. A life of politics takes a lot of strength and courage. The two timelines that Beinhart used made the story flow better and gave a more "common person" side to it. Overall, I felt it was a great book and I'm off to find the movie version.
This is a work of fiction. Many public figures appear in the text. Their speech and actions as depicted here are figments of the author's imagination except where supported by the public record.
, it appeared that the Larry Beinhart knew what he was talking about, that or he has a really great imagination. I really liked the book because it was about the side of politics that no one ever really sees. The dirty, no holds bar, the ends justify the means, kind of stuff. A life of politics takes a lot of strength and courage. The two timelines that Beinhart used made the story flow better and gave a more "common person" side to it. Overall, I felt it was a great book and I'm off to find the movie version.
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