I Am America (And So Can You!) (Hardcover)

by Stephen Colbert (Author)
Key Phrases: gay marriage, Miami Dolphins, Real Man, Fox News (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Realizing that it takes more than thirty minutes a night to fix everything that's destroying America, Colbert bravely takes on the forces aligned to destroy our country—whether they be terrorists, environmentalists, or Kashi brand breakfast cereals. His various targets include nature (I've never trusted the sea. What's it hiding under there?), the Hollywood Blacklist (I would have named enough names to fill the Moscow phone book), and atheists (Imagine going through life completely duped into thinking that there's no invisible, omniscient higher power guiding every action on Earth. It's just so arbitrary!). Colbert also provides helpful illustrations and charts (Things That Are Trying to Turn Me Gay) [and] a complete transcript of his infamous speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner [...] all of which add up to a book that is sure to be a bestseller and match the success of Colbert's former Daily Show boss Jon Stewart's America (The Book). (Oct.)
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From Booklist
The funnyman host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report rants about things that are wrong with America, offering his “knee jerk beliefs” on everything from the liberal media to environmentalists. If we continue to secularize Christmas, he screeches, former carolers will become wandering, alcoholic bums, and insects will grow into giant, munching minivans. He advocates legalizing performance-enhancing drugs for athletes, since sports are entertainment. Taking on a blowhard persona, he attacks atheists—how could a god exist who created a group that so pisses him off? Atheists are more hated than gays, to whom we at least entrust our hair. Interspersed with Colbert’s shrill tirades are the voices of other characters, notably the more modulated tones of God, who claims to be fair since he does not intercede in the outcome of sports on which he bets. Patriotic drums, a mariachi band, and other music accompanies this hilarious audio. Colbert fans will approve. --Whitney Scott --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (October 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446580503
• ISBN-13: 978-0446580502
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (446 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,140 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,337 of 1,475 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect Christmas gift!, April 18, 2007

By	Stephen Colbert "Stephen Colbert" (USA! #1!) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
A powerhouse. A tour de truth.
I laughed. I cried. I lost 15 pounds!
A must buy!

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Side-splitting, laugh-out-loud hysterical..., November 5, 2007

By	Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I read many books in the course of a year, and I tend to rotate between histories, biographies, fiction and mysteries. But every once in a while, I'll read a book that is pure entertainment. Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You) is side-splitting, laugh-out-loud hysterical!

Colbert is best known for his TV satire on Comedy Central, The Colbert Report. Cobert plays a clueless right-wing pundit who has an opinion on everything--which is never based on fact. The book is divided into three sections, which are then divided into chapters. The chapters cover such hot topics as Sports, Sex & Dating, Homosexuals, Higher Education, Race, The Media, and Science. Cobert gives us his irreverent and uneducated opinion on all things America. "See, at one time, America was pure. Men were men, women were women, and gays were confirmed bachelors." On movies, "once fantastic dreamscapes where cowboys fought Indians and gay men kissed Elizabeth Taylor, became squalid nightmares where cowboys turned tricks and hillbillies kissed Ned Beatty." Colbert includes a whole glassary on science. For Geology, "The last thing I need is a bunch of dust-covered fossil sweepers telling me that the Earth is four billion years old." Also, the author used to be "pro-Fahrenheit" until he found out it was named for a Dutchman. "I don't want my thermometer taking orders from some Amsterdam stoner who got bonged out of his mind one night and started messing around with mercury."

There are also fun things in I Am America. There are two sets of stickers, games, interviews, and the first edition even has a red ribbon bookmark. There are also funny margin notes and footnotes on each page, although I'll "whine" and complain that the print on these could be larger. As a special bonus, he reprints his White House Correspondent's Dinner speech.

Although Colbert plays a dim TV talking head, in real life, he is brilliant, creative and downright funny. If you like The Colbert Report, you'll love I Am America. Even if you don't watch the show, you'll find it a hoot.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Shades of gray are for brain tissue and the weak." , October 17, 2007

By	Gregory Baird (Morristown, NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I suppose it was only inevitable that Stephen Colbert, blowhard `pundit' and star of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," came out with a book when one considers the success of The Daily Show's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (which Mr. Colbert was a part of back when he was a correspondent on that show). The danger here is the question of whether or not Colbert's firestorm attitude and diehard opinions could translate to the page as seamlessly as the Daily Show's more accessible vibe. Good news: it does, and "I Am America" ends up being just as compulsively readable as its forebear's literary output.

I don't know what Stephen Colbert the person is like, but `Stephen Colbert' the TV personality is an egocentric conservative with such an influx of opinions that he has to have comments in the margins just to get all of them in there (fans of the Report's "The Wørd" segment, like me, will be particularly amused by this concept, although it does wear a little thin after about a hundred pages). He is prone to grandstanding, but in a funny way, proving that it is possible to be irritating and lovable at the same time - provided you are as clever as Colbert and his writing staff. Hilarious non sequiturs abound: on why environmentalism is bad, Colbert asserts that "Jesus hasn't forgiven you for that Cross, trees," while an aside about why kegel exercises are evil is just about the funniest thing I've ever read. But not everything is a home run; a page devoted to photos of dog testicles (and a lone human example) is just creepy, and nowhere near as funny as the spread in "America: the Book" of the Supreme Court Justices in the nude that it is clearly trying to rival.

The `Colbert Nation' is taking the media by storm, as evidenced by all of the five star reviews that clearly have only barely opened the book - if at all. I suppose there are worse things - Anne Coulter and Bill O'Reilly treat Colbert's absurdism on such topics as diverse as racism, religion, and politics seriously, and while Colbert can be loud and crude in jest they are just plain old offensive. So let's here it for the only diehard conservative worth rooting for (too bad for the GOP that he's fictional, or else those Presidential campaign rumors would be sounding pretty good right about now).

Grade: B+