American Hero [Hardcover]

Larry Beinhart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 1993

A scathing, satirical novel catches Lee Atwater drifting in and out of consciousness, developing an insanely logical scheme to reelect Bush. By the Edgar Award-winning author of No One Rides for Free. 40,000 first printing. $40,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Conspiracy theories of the George Bush presidency get a Hollywood twist in this satirical thriller purporting to tell the real story behind Operation Desert Storm. From his deathbed, controversial GOP chairman Lee Atwater conceives a wildly cynical plan to ensure Bush's re-election: if the President's campaign falters, Washington and Hollywood must orchestrate a war that will bolster his popular support. L.A. gumshoe Joe Broz has two jobs: movie star Magdalena Lazlo (soon to be his lover) wants him to find out why celebrated director John Beagle pulled out of a project she'd been working on; meanwhile his employer, mega-corporation Universal Security, has assigned him to the team protecting Beagle's mysterious new project. Which, of course, is the Atwater scheme, which Bush has entrusted to a major Hollywood producer. Beinhart's ( No One Rides for Free ) way-out plot is somewhat confused by a mix of first- and third-person narrative, and his extensive footnotes, sometimes dead-serious sourcing, sometimes saucily satirical, are a controversial touch that may throw some readers. But his imaginary conversations between Bush and Secretary of State Baker, his insights into the way Washington and Hollywood heavies operate and his constant offbeat asides, are often delightfully on target. And perhaps the best tribute one can pay the book is that, wacky as the thesis seems, it makes more sense than the actual war itself, as a lengthy epilogue reminds us.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The creator of the Tony Cassella p.i. stories (Foreign Exchange, etc.) turns to political satire with a breathtakingly nasty premise: Operation Desert Storm was not only staged for TV but was a piece of Hollywood entertainment drafted and choreographed by filmmakers. Joe Broz, of Universal Security (U.Sec.), is offered a perilously off-the-books job by dazzling Hollywood star Maggie Krebs: lay the groundwork for a $750,000 breach-of-contract suit against RepCo, the talent agency that owns both her and hot director John Lincoln Beagle, by finding out the real reason--not the illness the agency's selling- -that Beagle was abruptly pulled off and the project aborted. Hopelessly smitten with Maggie, Joe (``I'm an authentic American hero. Really'') signs on, only to find that U.Sec. is already in the game- -and not kidding around: they've bugged Maggie's place, they're tailing Joe, they're willing to kill Beagle's inoffensive librarian when Joe lures him into a meeting. What kind of movie would justify such fanaticism? A war movie, as we've already realized--a movie whose concept brainsick Machiavellian Lee Atwater drafted on his deathbed as just the ticket to resuscitate George Bush's faltering image. As Bush and Jim Baker trade gorgeously plausible malapropisms (``Talk about nitty-gritty and cutting through to the nuts of the matter. When Lee Atwater is passing, it's hardball''), Joe maneuvers to get the goods on RepCo head David Hartman and U.Sec.'s Melvin Taylor, Joe's boss, so that even if he can't avert the war, he can help Maggie get her hands on that golden parachute. Joe's plots against the totalitarian conspirators wind down to routine melodrama. The real smart bombs here are Beinhart's diabolical vignettes of the totalitarian alliance of the Oval Office and the entertainment industry (``Who are we going to war with?'' ``I don't know. It's just in development''). Think of a left-wing P.J. O'Rourke, or a Stanley Kubrick production of 1984. What a terrific movie this book is never, ever going to make. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Pantheon; First Printing edition (September 28, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679472762
• ISBN-13: 978-0679472766
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,994,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun, cynical book. Buy the paperback edition., August 18, 2003

By 

Booksmart Enterprises, Inc. "trustmeonthis" (Boca Raton, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Hero (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is a slam-bang masterpiece of political cynicism. But unless you're a collector with a need to own first editions, buy the paperback rather than the hardcover: it adds four chapters that help tie up loose ends and it gives the author a chance to poke fun at himself, among others: "I had written three mysteries with a 'series' character. Although they had -- where the hell are you going to find a writer to refrain from saying this -- great critical success, they had not been nearly as popular as I thought they ought to be. I was in search of the formula for greater commercial success.... I resolved to do two things -- get away from the series and become more centrist. Less humorous. Less cynical. Less thoughtful. Less intelligent."

Readers (and reviewers) who complained that the private-eye thread of this book's dual storyline was merely conventional have missed the point: Beinhart isn't rewriting Mickey Spillane, he's updating Machiavelli.

Beinhart's previous books are also worth seeking out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important novel by an under-rated writer, March 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: American Hero (Mass Market Paperback)

There's something about _American Hero_ that pulls at the edges of the reader's mind: you will not turn a page without pausing to think, "Could this really happen? DID this really happen?" I'm a veteran of the Gulf War. I was there. I KNOW what I saw.

And yet...

_American Hero_ is putatively the novel on which the hit film "Wag the Dog" is based. A president intent on reelection, a film producer confronted with the biggest project ever, a war made for the screen. But however much Beinhart's opus depends on the world of film, that paradigm doesn't have enough dimension to capture the essence of _American Hero_ in return. You NEED to read this.

The book is complex, heavily footnoted, and written in such a manner as to prove itself fact or fiction, whichever you prefer to believe. Chances are, you won't KNOW what to believe by time you read the final summation.

Beinhart, whose other work (_You Get What You Pay For_, _Foreign Exchange_ and _No One Rides For Free_, as well as the non-fiction _How to Write a Mystery_) hasn't achieved the popularity it deserves, has delivered a masterpiece.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fact or Fiction?, October 31, 2001

By 

Hirting pd4 (Herndon, Va) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Hero (Mass Market Paperback)

I love a good conspiracy theory and this is one of the best. This was a very interesting novel. The thought had never crossed my mind that the Persian Gulf War was a false war. This opened my mind to the realization that a fake war could be a reality. Although the book begins with the disclaimer,
This is a work of fiction. Many public figures appear in the text. Their speech and actions as depicted here are figments of the author's imagination except where supported by the public record.
, it appeared that the Larry Beinhart knew what he was talking about, that or he has a really great imagination. I really liked the book because it was about the side of politics that no one ever really sees. The dirty, no holds bar, the ends justify the means, kind of stuff. A life of politics takes a lot of strength and courage. The two timelines that Beinhart used made the story flow better and gave a more "common person" side to it. Overall, I felt it was a great book and I'm off to find the movie version.