Customer Reviews

Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Barry Crimmins grew up in Skaneateles, NY, and was a fixture in Boston stand-up comedy or years. We learn a lot about this, his family, and his opinions about politics today in this series of very funny essays covering topics such as 9/11, corporate corruption, Henry Kissinger, the Clintons, activism, Dennis Miller, comedy, Reagan, Air America Radio, NPR, the Iraq War, etc. Scattered between the essays are one-liners (Bush says he is eating beef and isn't vaguely concerned about the possibility of mad cow disease. Of course he isn't--the disease attacks the brain.)

If you're a progressive, there are lots of lines that will make you nod or smile or laugh (Not since Ronald Reagan have we had a president who is as stupid as he is evil.) Conservatives who've drunk the Bush kool-aid will not enjoy this, but all others will.

Crimmins' satire can lacerate like razor wire. It's also laugh-out-loud funny. His comments on the current White House administration, and Conservatives of nearly any ilk, are biting and savagely witty. But even those who don't subscribe to the author's partisan ideology should be impressed by several thoughtful essays in this book - ruminations on his hometown near the Finger Lakes, a eulogy for a cancer-stricken friend, his fond memories as founder of the Boston comedy scene circa 1979, his introspective examination of how annual copious snowfall in Central New York state creates hearty skeptics, an encounter with a lost boy and a Good Samaritan. These essays and others show that the author is more than just a political animal. He's also a keen observer of the human condition (a hallmark trait of any fine satirist). Mainly, though, the book focuses on Crimmins' high-principled views, which are insightful, unapologetic, and often very funny.

In a world where the Emperor's Clothes have become the Emperor's news media, Barry Crimmins voice has the ring of honesty. His biting humor and painfully honest historical revelations remind readers that there is still value in truth, however hard that truth may be. On top of that, Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal is a great read. Crimmins' writing is amazingly skillful and multi-textured. This book is a cool drink of reality, satisfying both the soul and the mind.

In this age when dishonest and careless people cloak themselves in Christianity, and when fair and balanced is anything but, it is a relief to read Barry Crimmins. Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal combines humor with humanity and courage with the truth. The chapters about Crimmins' dying friend and the Oklahoma City bombing made me cry and the chapters about surfing on the Niagara and Newt Gingrich made me laugh. And all of it made me want to stand up for what is good in each of us. I recommend this book for anyone whose soul needs a drink of something clean and refreshing.

I got an early Christmas gift - Barry Crimmins Never Shake Hands With A War Criminal and I ended up - in-between picking myself up off the floor, having tumbled from laughter - reading this tremendous work non-stop, cover-to-cover.

Crimmins is incredibly talented, writing with great clarity and conviction, without pandering for laughs. He's a master humorist, a modern day Twain ...

His 'Rushmore of Wrong-Headedness', his riff on Gingrich and more are all side-splitting ...

If you like well-written humor, run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore (or, if you're reading this review, click back and hit the order button) to get this work ... It's tremendous

Peace

JTD

Crimmins' book is not only great political satire, it is an honest and insightful personal account of someone raised in small town America. He is a sports fan, a comedian, a son, an entrepreneur whose essays are hilariously irreverent blistering salvos from the heart of someone who cares deeply and walks the talk.

(Barry read as part of The Writer's Voice Visiting Authors Series on January 21, 2005. This is from my introduction to the event).

"Never Shake Hands With a War Criminal," besides being filled with the "take-no-prisoners" humor one would expect from Barry Crimmins, is also a cri de coeur. ("NOUN: An impassioned outcry, as of entreaty or protest.") It is a wail against the center not holding, at our own lives being filled with ghosts, and the places we come from, the places that shaped, or mis-shaped us...disappearing. It is the voice of sanity, even as it delivers unrelenting broadsides against those who would suck the joy out of life, and betray, in Barry Crimmins' powerful and expertly argued view, what is truly the "American Way."

There is also a great depth of feeling that comes off the page; I think people who know Barry first as a "comedy-guy" are going to be surprised--pleasantly--by the wide-range of emotion in chapters like the one on Chris Bracken, and "Surfing the Niagara." And of course there is the political comedy--naturally. Reading Barry's work, I kept wishing I could hear him jam with the late Bill Hicks, who once said that the job of the comedian in our culture is to be the one who stand at the side while consensus forms, and says `wait a minute.' Barry Crimmins does that, with a passion that makes him an important voice in dangerous times. or, a dangerous voice in important times...

Crimmins will have you laughing out loud as you get to know him and upstate New York. You will feel his pain, you'll laugh out loud, and you'll feel for the relationship of Barry and his dad. A must read, especially if you're a left winger.

I didn't read the whole book, but spent about an hour in the back of a bookstore with a copy. This is supposed to be funny? Most of the humor(?) is the same tired crap the left has been spouting for the last 4 years. I like a good political humorist. I can laugh at jokes about conservatives, but this stuff was just mean, not the least bit funny. I kept reading, hoping to crack even a smile. Nothing. Who the hell reads this kind of thing and finds it funny? A total waste of money as was the the hour I spent. This guy needs to wake up and smell the coffee. I think he needs to widen his circle of sycophants, get a bit more varied feedback because this book is garbage