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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (Hardcover)
by Jon Stewart
| Category:
Politics, American politics, American history |
| Market price: ¥ 278.00
MSL price:
¥ 248.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
By far one of the most irreverent and wittiest political books you're likely to stumble upon. |
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Author: Jon Stewart
Publisher: Warner Books
Pub. in: September, 2004
ISBN: 0446532681
Pages: 240
Measurements: 10.5 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00381
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0446532686
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- Awards & Credential -
A very popular read on American politics/history. Nearly 600 Amazon.com reviewers gave it a collective rating of 4.5 stars. This book ranks #1,700 in books on Amazon.com as of January 8, 2007. |
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- MSL Picks -
Jon Stewart's The Daily Show is the best fake news program on the airwaves. In this abridgment of his current bestseller, Stewart and his staff turn their attention to the political history of the United States. Formatted as a high school audiovisual teaching kit, this unique production combines the voices of the Daily Show regulars with patriotic fanfares, farcical self-assessment tools, comical class projects, and even a cameo by Thomas Jefferson. Profane, snarky, and sometimes merely hilarious, this module won't prepare anyone for a citizenship test, but it might excite an interest in the truth behind the theater of contemporary political dialogue.
One cannot pigeonhole this book in order to classify it. It's historical, satirical, comical, informative, editorial, and more. If you have a sense of humor and are remotely interested in history - fact as well as hyperbole - read this book. You won't be disappointed.
While we actually joined the leading reviewer group highly praising this book, we are aware of the large number of negative reviews people posted on the Internet, and believe that the fundamental reason is people’s misinterpretation of the nature of the book. As you realize, America is a fake textbook, not an authentic, serious history textbook, even though the layout has been comically designed to look like one. Even so, one of the funny things about the book is that you can actually get more insights into American politics here than you can from many textbooks. Of course, those insights are cynical and mocking - but these kinds of criticisms of American institutions are painfully absent from any "real" textbook.
This coffee table book on American politics is just hilarious. We highly recommend it to everyone.
Target readers:
People interested in American politics, history and humor. Also recommended for English majors and advanced English learners in the country.
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- Better with -
Better with
Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government
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Jon Stewart has been the host of Comedy Central's comedy and news show The Daily Show with Jon Stewart since 1999. A former stand-up comedian known for his biting sarcasm, Stewart began hosting television shows in 1989, beginning with Short Attention Span Theater. Before Stewart's gig on The Daily Show he hosted You Wrote It, You Watch It and The Jon Stewart Show, and appeared several times in HBO's The Larry Sanders Show. He lives in New York.
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From Publisher
Jon Stewart, host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show, and his coterie of patriots, deliver a hilarious look at American government.
American-style democracy is the world's most beloved form of government, which explains why so many other nations are eager for us to impose it on them. But what is American democracy? In AMERICA (THE BOOK), Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writing staff offer their insights into our unique system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and exploring the reasons why concepts like one man, one vote, government by the people, and every vote counts have become such popular urban myths. Topics include: Ancient Rome: The First Republicans; The Founding Fathers: Young, Gifted, and White; The Media; Can it Be Stopped? and more!
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| View all 14 comments |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
America (The Book) will never be mistaken for the dry textbooks many of us used in high school. The book focuses on "the past, present and future of American democracy." This concept is covered in nine chapters:
1: Democracy Before America
2: The Founding of America
3: The President: King of Democracy
4: Congress: Quagmire of Freedom
5: The Judicial Branch: It Rules
6: Campaigns and Elections: America Changes the Sheets
7: The Media: Democracy's Valiant Vulgarians
8: The Future of Democracy: Four Score and Seven Years from Now
9: The Rest of the World: International House of Horrors
All of The Daily Show correspondents make contributions, ranging from what it's like in Canada, to photo expressions of TV journalists. Each chapter ends with Discussion Questions ("Which would you rather see being made: sausages or laws?") and Classroom Activities ("Take construction paper, trace you hand, and make a Turkey of Congress").
America is also a visual treat because of all the colorful graphics. You can play the Game of the Presidency, which is similar to another well-known board game. You can also dress the Supreme Court Judges who are unfortunately anatomically correct and in living color. (There is nudity and it is not pretty).
In response to criticism that the previous edition was filled with misinformation, Professor Schultz has corrected this edition. In the beginning, I found the red ink distracting but eventually my eyes adjusted. I would definitely recommend reading the comments because they are written in the same spirit as the book.
Unlike The Daily Show where the swearing is bleeped out, here it is left in. It didn't bother me but it may offend other readers.
America is witty, intelligent and irreverent as it examines the highlights and failures of our political system. If you are a fan of The Daily Show, this is a must read. It will have you laughing out loud and more importantly, have you stop, question and think.
Armchair Interviews says: This is one textbook that will not cause drowsiness!
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
There are few books out there that can make you think, laugh, and cringe at the same time. This is one of them.
First, let me say that I do watch The Daily Show on the Comedy Channel. It's witty, informative, and sometimes vile. I love it. In a time where the news media takes itself too seriously, or acts more like an entertainment venue than a forum for public information, The Daily Show is a breath of fresh air. So I was eager to pick up a copy of "America" and read.
There may be some worries on the part of Republicans (based on The Daily Show's left leaning style of reporting) that this book might be a bashing of their political base. It isn't. The bashing is spewed across an incredibly large landscape (yes, Republicans are in there, but so are the Democrats, the Independents, the Jews, the Supreme Court, publishers, radio and television, science, religion, and... oh God, there's just tons of potshots taken on every single page).
America The Book is about democracy, from its founding to the mess we currently find ourselves in - and there's even a look into what our future might hold: "Genetically "enhanced" children will talk at a younger age, be born toilet-trained and never get sick. They will also lack the capacity to love."
But we start out with Greece in the fifth century BC and travel a bumpy road full of aching democracies, until we reach the United States. Once in the mighty U.S., we begin to see our nation take flight (or at least glide a few feet before bouncing off the ground).
The thing that amazed me about the book is that it actually IS a textbook of sorts. A twisted textbook, but a textbook nonetheless. If you don't like reading a merry chorus of "F-yous" and the like - once in a while - be forewarned, they are in here. But if you don't mind that sort of language, and enjoy laughing and learning, you should pick up a copy.
The fact that you can flip to any page in this book and learn something about our great nation while tears of mirth drip down your cheeks is something not to be taken lightly.
Don't believe me?
Let's take a little test. I'm going to open the book to a random page right now. There! Let me see here... um... okay, here we go. Page 49. Quoting the President: On Honesty. "Martha, when I tell you I was helping Ms. Hemings move her bed against the wall, I mean precisely that." - Thomas Jefferson, August 20, 1785.
Now it might help to know a little bit of history, and if you do I'm sure you're chuckling at this made-up quote. But it's also incredibly informative in its own way. Ms. Hemings was a slave, and Thom Jefferson a slave owner who may have fathered children by her. Although this book makes light of the subject, it's also an effective way to learn (those that don't know about Ms. Hemings might be inclined to look her up on the internet after reading something like that. I wish THIS had been part of my reading assignments when I was in high school or college!).
That I could go on and on about how wonderful this book is shows its powerful and thought-provoking messages.
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Robert Moore (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
The brilliant thing about this book is that in poking fun at our comically inadequate response to the promise contained in the grand experiment founding our nation, it manages to encapsulate some of the most trenchant critique of what is wrong with our nation. What is amazing about this is that none of our national news media has been willing to do this in quite some time. I recently heard something truly sad: in polls of the factual knowledge by American television viewers, those who said that The Daily Show was their primary TV source of the news scored higher than the viewers of any other source. Jon Stewart himself would be the first to insist that this points up a great tragedy in contemporary American life.
So, this book succeeds on a number of levels. First and foremost, it is funny. I mean really, truly funny. A few of the jokes fall flat, but a shockingly large number strike home. From the very beginning, with the Foreword by Thomas Jefferson to the "Praise for AMERICA (THE BOOK) on the back cover, the book made me laugh.
But what makes the book brilliant is the dead-on criticisms it makes of the way the American experiment in democracy has gone wrong. Instead of a Jeffersonian spirit of democracy empowering the individual, we see the corporate appropriation of the democratic process through massive contributions to politicians and corporate ownership of the media outlets. And the free press, which ought to be safeguarding our interests through a vigorous discussion of government, more often than not gives our politicians a free pass even in cases where a president sends us off to war after lying about why we need to go to war. Though Stewart and his cohorts are clearly left leaning, the left is hardly left unscathed. If the Right is criticized for its catering to corporate American and the corporate owned media, the Left - well, what passes for the Left in America, which is actually more like the Right-Center in any other developed nation - is castigated for its gutlessness and unwillingness to rock the boat to help average Americans.
In the end, the point of the book is to point up what has gone wrong in our country, and maybe helping us to laugh about it at the same time. Perhaps we have gotten not the government we wanted, but merely the one we deserve. In the meantime, we can all laugh both at government and at ourselves. A brilliant book.
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E. Kelly (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
These days, you don't see many people with the interest or guts to do what Jon Stewart and his co-workers do. In America, the book, they aim to teach misinformed Americans what their government is really about. Many people don't actually know what the heck goes on in the government, nor do they care.
The book, filled with hilarious tidbits, great explanations, and well thought out presentations, aims to make the government interesting. It's got history, how the government works, modern day conflicts, theories, ideas, people, and what our Founders did for this great nation. It should be a book in every classroom and required reading for every citizen.
Jon Stewart and the authors of this book went out on a limb for this. They went against the grain and did what they knew was right. It's our duty as Americans to criticize the government. When there's something wrong and you have the ability to fix it, you have the responsibility to fix it.
Hopefully this has changed America.
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