In this hybrid of pop mythology and political commentary, John Powers offers an irreverent guided tour of what he dubs "Bush World" - with its terror attacks and obsession with Martha Stewart, its preemptive wars and celebrations of shopping. [Doubleday]
Critic Reviews
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Favorable
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Booklist Donna Seaman
With the presidential election looming, Powers' brilliant synthesis and recap is invaluable in its coherence and incisiveness. [July 2004, p.1813]
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Favorable
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Flak James Norton
The purely political sections are the least interesting and least memorable parts of what turns out to be a momentously entertaining book.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
If his arguments get a little diffuse when his gaze shifts from Bush to the larger culture, Powers sneaks in enough right-on digs at current icons -- Schwarzenegger, Reagan, and even, in a nice bit of table-turning, Michael Moore -- to cover the price of admission.
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Kevin Canfield
Most appealing is his fair-mindedness...Powers is reasonable in a way that many authors of books on contemporary politics are not.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Book Review Timothy Noah
Epigrams like these give intellectuals like Powers a reputation for snideness, but bless me, Father. He made me laugh.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Jonathan Yardley
Like many others, John Powers is appalled by Bush and most of those by whom he is surrounded, but unlike most of Bush's critics -- Molly Ivins, Al Franken, Michael Moore et al. -- he takes Bush seriously.
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Mixed
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New York Observer Glenn C. Altschuler
Defeating Bush in 2004 won't do it, because most of the defining elements of Bush World have been rooted in our culture for decades, a fact that Mr. Powers acknowledges but does not fully confront. Sore Winners is sometimes stunningly ahistorical.
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Mixed
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Publishers Weekly
Powers can be very funny..., but scion Bush as sore winner isn't news, and the book is too thick with kitchen-sink ruminations to work as a whole.
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