Customer Reviews

Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America

5 star:		(214)
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If you are interested in reading this book, it's likely that you are already of a certain political mindset. Therefore, I'm going to try to make this review helpful to you depending on your specific beliefs. I will do my best to be direct and not mis-leading.

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If You Are a Liberal:

Let me give you a fair warning; If you are a liberal democrat, even an "open-minded" one, you will hate this book. I would not recommend you waste your time reading Demonic. You will likely find Ms. Coulter to be mean-spirited toward your affiliation and paint you all with a generalized brush of disdain that you may not deserve. Now, if you still choose to read the book (despite my stern warning) you may learn some interesting facts(while being offended) as this book is undeniably well-researched and covers some interesting historical and philosophical concepts. However, I would imagine the chore of spending the hours needed to read this book red faced and clench-jawed will easily override some interesting facets the book uncovers. In fact, you will probably garner more from simply reading the work of Gustave Le Bon, particularly his book "The Crowd"- which provides many of the same factual insights discussed in Demonic, without being overtly offensive. So, to you my liberal, beloved, fellow American, I hope this review will save you some time and money by avoiding the aforementioned work.

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If You Are a Conservative:

Ahh, yes, the target audience for this book. If you fit within this group, Ann Coulter, and her newest work will likely appeal to you- especially if you prefer a no-nonsense delivery and a barrage of well-articulated shots taken at the Democratic Party and Liberal/Progressive leaders and it's followers. Coulter's true strength is her ability to couple well-researched events and link them to what she feels are modern equivalents (often with compelling evidence). The end result will supply you with entirely new reasons to remain firm in your political and moral convictions while giving you new ammunition to besiege your Democrat-loving relatives next Thanksgiving dinner. In truth, Ann is incredibly insightful and much too smart for my personal liking- as I fear ever having to debate someone like her about ANYTHING. I greatly enjoy her writing style, she is blunt, bold and opinionated- and fortunately for you, those are opinions you will likely support.

Final Thoughts

Demonic is primarily a book that seeks to highlight the mob-psychology that often occupies space in modern politics. Ann equates the "mob mentality" with literal demonic/evil influence- a notion that many may feel takes the argument too far. However, as with many of Coulter's books, her claims are backed by a myriad of historic events, facts and statistics, that may lend credence to many of the implications within the book. Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide whether her allegations bear any weight. I can only tell you, that for me personally, Demonic underscored strong correlations with some tragic historic events and recent tactics seen in several parties and sects today. Those who fail to observe the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them; perhaps Demonic will help America dodge some of the most unpleasant lessons on the horizon by encouraging critical thought from its people, rather than loyalty to propaganda and hollow-catchphrases.

I'm not a huge fan of Ann Coulter; sometimes I think she says or writes controversial things just to get a rise out of her opponents. She is like a cat toying with a fuzzy, helpless animal most of the time...on one hand, you feel sorry for the helpless animal, but on the other hand, you accept that nature demands winners and losers.

Ann strikes at the heart of the matter, and right out of the box. Christians who know their Bible know the story of the hapless man possessed by 'Legion'. The book opens with this and sets the tone for the entire book. There is no toying with her prey in 'Demonic', rather there is an unrelenting assault (limited, well placed sharp humor) on the left and the lefts reliance on ginned up mob mentality. My guess is that Sarah Palin read an advanced copy at some point; the true story of Paul Revere's ride and capture by a group of Redcoats is explained. BTW - the NYT and WP asking for readers to help in reviewing the Palin emails on 6/9/11 is a perfect example of the 'mob' Coulter refers to in her book. Let's just say people aren't scouring Palin's correspondence for moose eyeball recipes. The press minions are assembling in attack formation...I bet they feel delightfully evil...oh, what's another word? (See title of book!) 6/13 follow up: Drudge states that some would-be mob icons the press uses to lend credence to the Destroy Palin movement have begun to turn and question why this much focus on a single woman who was last a candidate 3 years ago. The premise of Coulter's book is that real Americans embrace the traditions of debate and individualism, while those that hate America embrace the traditions of groupthink and mobs.

This is an excellent book for those people who self identify as 'new to politics' and have participated in tea party activities a couple of times. Ann lays out a good deal of recent history, and exposes how group think might have shaped your thoughts prior to the great tea awakening. She also covers a great deal of mob think history, and no, I'm not talking about Cosa Nostra; think French Revolution, and NOT the white washed version you thought you learned in school that supposedly paralleled the birth of our country. For those who have walked in Conservative shoes longer, this is a must have book as it is Ann at her best. And for those, like me, who have found her to be abrasive in the past, 'Demonic' is the one Coulter book you'll want to read. 'Demonic' is a must have for historical purposes alone...and even the least educated liberal should appreciate a well written book given their penchant for open-mindedness.

Ann Coulter has not written a book which is only a "partisan diatribe" --- she has actually written a unique and brilliant history.

In many ways, of course, she is not a trailblazer. Other books about mob psychology include Charles Mackay's brilliant Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds, as well as the Frenchman who is almost the co-author of Coulter's book, Gustave Le Bon, who wrote The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. In addition to that, educated people have always known that the mob almost always heads straight for the bottom and represents the lowest common denominator.

Nevertheless, this is a unique work of scholarship on at least two counts.

First, it is a horrifying compendium of what the French mob actually did to other people during the days of the French Revolution. I don't know of another place where you can find all these stupefying cruelties gathered together in one book.

Second, it is a history of the mob in America, which proves a rather startling thesis: the American mob has always been ginned up, used, and controlled by the Democratic Party. This, by the way, is a thesis which leftists should feel free to refute --- not by calling Ann Coulter silly names, but by consulting the historical record. You know what I mean --- "hard work and research," not sloganeering.

Oddly enough, the incomprehensible "Occupy" protests around the land provide even more evidence that the American mob has always been ginned up, used, and controlled by the Democratic Party.

If you want to read further on these subjects, I would like to recommend Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (Dover Value Editions) and Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn's Leftism Revisited: From De Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot. If you have further interest in the French Revolution (as opposed to mob terror during that Revolution), then you have an enormous choice, including Hibbert's The Days of the French Revolution and Tocqueville's Ancien Regime and the French Revolution (Penguin Classics).

All in all, an excellent & surprising book, very highly recommended!

Ann Coulter believes that "liberals" (and by extension Democrats) are: liars, totalitarians, and ignoramuses who practice slanderous hyperbole, angry denunciation, intimidation tactics and stupid sloganeering and argumentation through imagery rather than logic and evidence. And she backs it up with well-chosen examples that anybody who is not enslaved to NPR and CNN commentary will recognize.

Coulter punches hard, and this is both her strength and weakness. Strength, because somebody needs to point out the things she does and expose the hypocrisy of leftist rhetoric and the pathetic herd mentality liberals exhibit. There are, perhaps, a bit too many one-liner zingers which seek to make sure the reader gets the connection between discussions of historic moments and today's society. It can get a bit tiresome, although some of these statements are uproariously funny.

Coulter offers up a vivid, searing account of the French Revolution and its influence. This is the best chapter in the book, in my judgement.

In her latest critique of modern liberalism - with the deliberately provocative litle "Demonic" - Ann Coulter, relying heavily on Gustave Le Bon's 1896 classic, "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind", draws parallels between the violence of the French Revolution and the behavior and attitudes of modern liberalism and Leftism. Although flawed and overstated in many ways, Coulter - as usual - does an excellent job of damning the Left simply by compiling and documenting example after example of its own rhetoric and behavior. And, again as usual, Coulter hurts her own case by resorting to the incurable snarkiness which characterizes most of her writing. I mean, does she really need to bolster her argument with snide offhanded remarks about Michael Moore's weight or "90 percent gay Hollywood"? I don't like snarkiness, whether it comes from Maureen Dowd, Rachel Maddow, or Ann Coulter.

In Coulter's view, the psychology of modern liberalism is largely the psychology of the crowd or the mob, relying on appeals to emotion rather than reason, rampant sloganeering, deliberate deception, and the utter demonization of political opponents. (Given the title of this book, Coulter opens herself to the critique that she herself is engaging in the very same sort of demonization of political opponents.) Perhaps Coulter would reply that SOMEBODY on the Right has to take up this role, since conservative politicians from George H. W. Bush to G. W. Bush to Mike Huckabee to Mitt Romney seem reluctant to take off the gloves in the way that most liberals typically do.

Coulter's first chapter is devoted to the liberal tendency to idolize and romanticize its politicians, and this chapter is one of the most damning and solid in the book. The worshipful quotes of supposedly sober mainstream journalists regarding political figures like JFK, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama are downright embarrassing, or at least they SHOULD be in a "profession" that prides itself on cool objectivity and neutrality.

Later chapters contrast the Left's constant warnings about potential right-wing violence with the Left's ACTUAL violence in recent years, ranging from the widespread student riots of the 60s and early 70s to the Seattle WTO riots to the widespread violence and vandalism associated with the environmental movement to the recent union thuggery in Wisconsin. (The Left even blames conservatives for violent acts committed by liberals such as the Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, the Holocaust Museum shooter, JFK assasin Lee Harvey Oswald, and the communist sympathizer (portrayed in the media as a Tea Party sympathizer) who flew his private plane into a building containing an IRS office.) Coulter also provides evidence to counter the oft-repeated charge that Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was a "right-wing fundamentalist Christian." (McVeigh was a lapsed Catholic and self-proclaimed agnostic.)

Less sound are Coulter's allegations that liberals oppose science. Although it is true that liberals oppose some kinds of science (their hostility to the drug companies, nuclear power, and oil industry leads them to oppose many innovations in these areas), liberals are totally supportive of "alternative" energy technology and many other technological developments. Coulter is as wrong as she is right on this topic, and it's one of the book's weak points.

Coulter is mostly right on, however, on the topic of "civility." Liberals always castigate conservatives for their supposed lack of civility, but Coulter documents case after case of extreme liberal incivility and crudity, behavior which often escapes public notice because liberal journalists refuse to report it or make examples of it. Coulter also documents numerous cases of actual physical attacks on conservatives by liberal activists, resulting in bodily injury and/or property damage, as well as cases where the threat of Leftist disruptions has caused conservative events or public appearances by conservatives to be cancelled for security reasons. (Among the events described by Coulter is the disruption of Sarah Palin's speech at the 2008 Republican Convention by a group of Obama supporters and fundraisers, an event that was greeted with a virtual media blackout. "Nothing to see here, folks . . . ". Can you imagine the media ignoring it if Obama's convention speech had been disrupted by McCain supporters? Neither can I.)

All in all, Coulter compiles an impressive catalogue of liberal extremism, hypocrisy, violence, and invective. Nonetheless, I think she carries the French Revolution analogy too far. We aren't yet at the point in America where conservatives will be rounded up and imprisoned without trial, nor do I think we will ever get to that point. But in more subtle ways, conservatives are routinely subjected to acts of intimidation and harrassment. As I speak, media wolves are beginning to pore over boxes of Sarah Palin's emails as Alaska governor, probably with the hope of finding something that will finally finish her off politically. Meanwhile, they show little interest in digging up anything on the current occupant of the White House, and are often more interested in protecting him from criticism than in living up to their self-proclaimed role of "government watchdog." That's why we need people like the sometimes insufferable Ann Coulter: to do the job the media refuse to do.

I just finished Ann Coulter's Demonic, and thought I'd write a quick review.
Ann uses psychologist Gustave Le Bon's 1896 book, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind as a backbone to compare the mob mentality to the liberal mind. The book is broken down into four parts, and as other readers stated, the second part has two excellent chapters on the French Revolution. She uses Le Bon's behavioral studies throughout the book comparing and contrasting conservatives and liberals all with her great sense of humor. I think she does a fantastic job connecting mob group think to liberals and democrats. As usual, she also cites each source (but will still be called a liar).
I think this is some of Ann's best work. I know im biased: I'm conservative and I have all of her other books. I love when shes on Red Eye, and look forward to her new column every wednesday. I had to write this after reading some of the 1 star reviews. I actually read the book. Bad reviews, full of name calling and outright hatred, written by an uninformed group of people feeding off one another... Hmmm. Spot on Ann!

The Liberal collective spewing venom at Coulter exemplifies those truths she so eloquntly expresses in her book. Many identify themseves as "Progressives", but it's plain to see, as Coulter points it out, that the Liberal return to tribalism is actually "Regressive", not Progressive.

The American Constitution is an actual Progressive document, not a Liberal lie. Because it protects the individual rights of people against the "Tyranny of the Masses", something that the so-called Liberal progressives tend to ignore. Read the "Bill of Rights" in the United States Constitution; it deals with individual rights, not groups, or phony Progressives-in-name-only.

Coulter is right.

Ann Coulter has once again proved herself to be a powerful, cutting edge force within the American political landscape. Never hesitant to speak her mind nor shy away from controvery, Ann has outdone herself with the release of 'Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America.' As always, her attacks on the liberal mindset are ferocious and unrelenting, her facts fastidiously researched and her humor blunt and uncompromising. It will have the conservative reader cheering and the liberal foaming at the mouth, which is usual for her but I think just a little more than usual this time.

What makes this particular book so appealing to me and culturally pertinent in general is the manner in which Ms. Coulter has inserted the contemporary Left into the social psychological framework of Gustave Le Bon's classic 'The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind.' Her reconstruction and analysis of the mob mentalitiy and how it's so effectively being used today is sheer genius in my estimation. It answers so many questions that have bothered me for some time. Now it's all beginning to make sense. Thank you Ann!

Note: If you'd like to continue your exploration into how the liberal Left is utilizing groupthink and mob tactics to further their radical ideology I recommend you read 'The New Thought Police' by Tammy Bruce. Written ten years before Ann Coulter's 'Demonic', this insightful, expertly presented analysis reveals the same disturbing mind control processes at work in contemporary American society and serves as the perfect companion volume to Ms. Coulters' latest release.

...we can count on Ann Coulter put a new spin on established political aruguments and positions. I haven't finished Demonic (it only came out yesterday) but I am enjoying it. She has a good writer's voice and, as always, she has something to say. Like another reviewer said, her book is probably a waste of time for liberal democrats--perhaps except those few who really are free thinkers and welcome all points of view.

Speaking of other reviewers, at the time I am writing this, there are 20 reviews posted and it looks like only one other person actually has a copy of the book (Amazon verified purchaser) unless you folks drove home yesterday from Barnes and Noble or Walmart and sat right down at your computer as soon as you got out of your car.

I'll come back and do some more writing after I've done some more reading.

If she wasn't so forthright, conservative, intelligent, wise, honest, patriotic, etc. she'd make a great political leader. As a right wing, Bible believing, patriotic American (yes liberals - I'm your worst nightmare) who always tries to seek the truth and wisdom of a situation or issue independently and will defend the truth no matter what others say (and begs forgiveness when he slips) I've always wondered how so many liberal and democrat pundits seem to be so passionate in defending positions that are so ridiculous as to defy even simple reasoning (i.e. - abortion, WMDs, Obamacare, spending, Rove did it, it's Bush's fault, , it's the oil companies, it's the insurance companies, it's the rich, global warming, alternative energy, light bulbs, etc). After reading this book understanding the liberal mindset (or more appropriately mindlessset) kind of makes sense in a weird sort of way. They are just against anything that reasoning people are for(picture tea party folks - because I learned in this book you need an image to understand what I mean by "reasoning people") - it has nothing to do with facts or logic or truth. It is useless to argue facts with them - they don't care about facts or history or truth - they are like the spoiled child who wants his way, and will do whatever it takes to win - period!. The only chance of overcoming the groupthink (which actually involves no thinking at all) is to pray for them and to be prepared to give a logical defense of the truth should they pause, look back and decide not to follow the herd over the cliff/into the sea. Yes, satan does exist and exert demonic influence on men who are not equipped and prepared for his attacks aforehand) and this book shows how he is indeed the "prince of the air...waves". The biblical picture of "Legion" entering the herd of swine who then stampeded into the sea to drown themselves is a great picture of the liberal mentality and what it ultimately leads to (I think God knew that story could one day help save America when He wrote it). A very well thought out, logical explanation of the current American condition - it's a shame that most true liberals won't read this (it's very much like the Coulter? quote "If democrats were smart they would be republicans", not to say that republicans are perfect - just a lot closer to being so)in that "If liberals cared about facts or logic or truth they would read this book")...but God can still do miracles, the greatest of which have always been in the arena of changing of men (and women...again because a liberal might not recognize the generic sense of "men" being applicable to the human species in general and accuse me of being sexist...). Good job Ann Coulter! Never give up and keep on smiling! May God bless you as you defend truth! Ignore the liberals that will continue to bash you - just take it as a sign of encouragement (again, the image of a badge of honor) that you're doing a good job (like most thinking American's do!).