America (The Book) by Jon Stewart and the staff of the Daily Show
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, winner of the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and his group of patriots present a funny examination of American politics. In this amusing book, Jon Stewart, who has been dubbed a “political king-maker” by Newsweek and “the Dan Rather of infotainment” by Vanity Fair, mixes his riotous humour and keen insight. The most admired system of government in the world is American-style democracy, which explains why so many other countries want us to impose it on them. But what is it exactly?
America (The Book) by Jon Stewart and the staff of the Daily Show
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In America (The Book), Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writing team provide their perspectives on our particular form of government, examining its institutions, outlining its background and workings, and examining the reasons why ideas like “One man, one vote,” “Government by the people,” and “Every vote counts” have become such well-known urban myths. You’ll adore “America (the book)” if you enjoy the Daily Show’s razor-sharp humour and sarcasm. America examines the past, present, and future of American history and socioeconomic politics. It was written by the majority of the Daily Show staff as well as a large number of other (supposedly) ghostwriters.
Like a true school textbook, this one has predetermined chapters with introductions, reviews, and discussion questions at the end. However, none of them should be taken seriously in the slightest—well, maybe in some regions of the Rest of the World area. A nice big poster with a Kerry and Bush boxing match advertisement on one side and a review of our “secret underground government” on the other are included in addition to these in-depth analyses of hilarious ridicule. There are also approximately ten or twelve pages of campaign material for the 2004 election in the back. Overall, this book is full of amusing visual treats that will make you laugh aloud, probably make you angry, or both.
I do believe it is a recognition of the effectiveness of comedy and the prevalence of comedy shows as sources of news information. Politicians appear on The Daily Show because they want to be noticed by viewers who are turning to the Comedy Channel for their news. Sometimes Jon Stewart will go after these elected leaders more forcefully than you’ll ever see on a typical newscast. That is yet another factor that draws viewers.
