BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

At an exceptional reduced BuzzFlash price, Al Franken's classic 2003 tome on the right wing media -- the book that FOX News threatened to sue him over -- is as true today as it was five years ago.

Nothing much has changed in the stranglehold that the corporate media -- and particularly the right wing echo chamber -- continues.

One thing, however, is dramatically different. Despite Norm Coleman's stalling, we can now call Al Senator Franken.

This book is laugh-out-loud funny.

-- The Washington Post

[A] heady mixture of scathing humor and righteous indignation.

-- The Onion

And while you are inspired and delighted by the letters, you can be motivated to visit the BuzzFlash Progressive Market Place and buy more at our Everything Obama section.

Booklist (2003):

It's one thing to read about right-wing lies from the likes of journalist Eric Alterman and Joe Conason but quite another to hear the inconsistencies and twisted rhetoric filtered through the satiric brain of Al Franken. True, much of the material covered in all these books is the same--or, as Franken puts it in his acknowledgments, "Eric Alterman, thanks for writing a book on bias I could just put jokes to." But it's Franken's take on it that is so delicious. Unlike his more serious fellow writers, he does not feel compelled toward civility or decorum. Hence his chapter title: "Ann Coulter: Nutcase," or the next chapter: "You Know Who I Don't Like? Ann Coulter." And although personal attacks abound--"Bill O'Reilly: Lying, Splotchy Bully"--there's plenty of real talk about really serious stuff. Only Franken makes it funny. For instance, he deftly proves, with help from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, how Al Gore was steamrollered by the "liberal" press in the 2000 election; reveals the lies made by the Right about the Paul Wellstone memorial; and explains about as clearly as anyone how the Bush tax cuts work and whom they benefit. Even the chapters that don't quite work--Franken trying to get a fake son into Bob Jones University--evoke a few smiles. Expect big word of mouth on this one, which was rushed into print early to capitalize on the quickly rejected suit filed by Fox News against the book's title and cover design.

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS