Stupid White Men ...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! [Hardcover]

Michael Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2002

Michael Moore is America's favourite thorn in the side. With his patented blend of comic provocation and serious advocacy, Moore issues his own Sorry State of the Nation address. In STUPID WHITE MEN, he provides a much-needed alternative to the steady, "let's-line-up-behind-the-President" drumbeat of today's commentators. Few have been willing to speak out with a different point of view lately - until now. Michael Moore is proud to be an American and believes that the strength of a democracy is seen by how well it insures the fullest possible discussion of the issues of the day. Starting with the farcical shenanigans surrounding the November 2000 coup - er, election - in Florida, he reviews the collection of corporate-friendly career politicians George W Bush has chosen to prop up his administration, and confronts Bush in a comic, yet thought-provoking open letter. He takes on issues as diverse as global warming, commercialism in schools, and even the continuing spectre of racism in US society. He challenges Yasser Arafat to mount a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience, challenges employers to hire only black people, even challenges the male gender to clean up its act if men are going to avoid extinction. From the hapless presidency of George W to the sloppy explosion of the tech-stock bubble to the consumer debt epidemic - from the spread of mad-cow disease to Bush's scorched-earth environmental policy - America is collapsing into a political, ethical, fianancial and physical slag heap and Moore leaves no radioactive stone unturned along the way. Entertaining and astonishing in equal measure, STUPID WHITE MEN is the latest and most powerful in Michael Moore's series of acts of satirical subversion, sure to cause controversy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stupid White Men, Michael Moore's screed against "Thief-in-Chief" George Bush's power elite, hit No. 1 at Amazon.com within days of publication. Why? It's as fulminating and crammed with infuriating facts as any right-wing bestseller, as irreverent as The Onion, and as noisily entertaining as a wrestling smackdown. Moore offers a more interesting critique of the 2000 election than Ralph Nader's Crashing the Party (he argued with Nader, his old boss, who sacked him), and he's serious when he advocates ousting Bush. But Moore's rage is outrageous, couched in shameless gags and madcap comedy: "Old white men wielding martinis and wearing dickies have occupied our nation's capital.... Launch the SCUD missiles! Bring us the head of Antonin Scalia!... We are no longer [able] to hold free and fair elections. We need U.N. observers, U.N. troops." Moore's ideas range from on-the-money (Arafat should beat Sharon with Gandhi's nonviolent shame tactics) to over-the-top: blacks should put inflatable white dolls in their cars so racist cops will think they're chauffeurs; the ever-more-Republicanesque Democratic Party should be sued for fraud; "no contributions toward advancing our civilization ever came out of the South [except Faulkner, Hellman, and R.J. Reynolds]," because it's too hot to think straight there; Korean dictator Kim Jong-il "has got to broaden himself beyond porn and John Wayne" by watching better movies, like Dude, Where's My Car? (which contains "all you need to know about America"). Whatever your politics, Stupid White Men should make you blow your stack. --Tim Appelo

From Booklist

The latest appraisal of contemporary American society by a popular and iconoclastic commentator. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (February 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060392452
• ISBN-13: 978-0060392451
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,119 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Moore is an Academy Award-winning American filmmaker, bestselling author, and liberal political commentator. He is the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Sicko, three of the top five highest-grossing documentaries of all time. In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting his personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections. He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth. His bestselling books include Dude, Where's My Country and Mike's Election Guide 2008.Moore is a self-described liberal who has explored globalization, large corporations, gun ownership, the Iraq War, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system in his written and cinematic works. In 2005 Time magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. In 2005, Moore started the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. In 2008, he closed his Manhattan office and moved it to Traverse City, where he is working on his new film.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

332 of 368 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Laughing on the outside, February 19, 2002

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stupid White Men ...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! (Hardcover)

Michael Moore is a muckraker, an American original, and a versatile and funny man. He has written a noisy and important book. Despite its jokey title, it's about lots more than "stupid white men." Moore is righteously indignant about out current American state of affairs: the huge disparity between rich and poor, racism, pollution, unemployment, sinking educational standards, women's issues, American violence and media culture. (When he likes someone or something, you know it, too.). He supports his opinions with facts and figures. Helpfully, he includes specific instructions to readers who might want to contact their Congressional Representative (an act that Moore asserts can be quite effective), organize in their own communities, and intelligently make a difference.

Moore's first and easiest target in this book is the current administration and, in his view, wholly illegitimate ascendancy to the Presidency of George W. Bush. Moore is irate about what he views as Bush's appalling lack of "Presidential" qualifications, his untruthfulness regarding his past, and his vast array of family and financial connections. Moore's retelling of the stealing of the election, via the delivery of the Florida vote before the election ever took place (by the pre-Election day illegal disenfranchisement of thousands of Democratic voters) will shock readers. Although ignored by US media when it broke, it is factual, and it is appalling.

Moore's style, unfortunately, is part student activist and part class clown. This clash of roles is at times a hindrance to his effectiveness. He is funny, and he loves to kid around, but at times his humor is slapstick - which didn't always work for me. He sometimes tends toward sarcasm, or volume (he will use all caps, for emphasis) which isn't really necessary given the importance of his message. In addition, disconcertingly, the book's tone changes midway through. In the first half Moore supplies the reader with a variety of important lists: "How to Stage the Countercoup," a sensible how-to for community organizers; "Survival Tips for White America," which is a serious discussion of ways to end racism; and the useful "Guide to Student Rights." Inexplicably, though, halfway through this book his lists change, and become jokey. "How to Use Less Gas," for example, has among its bullet points "Siphon gas from parked cars at airports," "Hitchhike," and "Live in your office or place of work." His chapter on gender issues is very funny, but I'm not quite sure why it's in the book. He is serious, but then he jokes at times about surviving global warming, recycling, and gender issues, too - at the expense of his thesis, which is that things are messed up and badly need changing if the people (_all_ the people) of the US are to thrive.

This an important book with more than several messages toward advancing an old institution Moore thinks is definitely worth saving: American democracy. "Stupid White Men" is deadly serious in places, and funny in others, and well worth reading.

226 of 253 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Page-turning comedy - Moore tells the truth, February 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Stupid White Men ...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! (Hardcover)

Whether or not you agree with Moore's political analysis, his views on economic racisms, and his contempt for the status quo - you WILL laugh. The facts can't be disputed, and he dispells just that - facts. This book SHOULD be in your collection.

883 of 1,017 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh, But Learn, and Make Those Changes, February 19, 2002

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stupid White Men ...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! (Hardcover)

_Stupid White Men_ by Michael Moore was supposed to be published in October, but the copies printed in September were going to be shredded, since the publisher thought that humorous attacks on President Bush and his partners would not be welcome after 9-11. There was a quiet campaign to get it to readers, and HarperCollins eventually did the right thing: it has released the book unchanged and uncensored, and Moore has said he admires the courage it showed in doing so. You don't have to be a fan of Moore's famous anti-corporate, anti-racist, and anti-conservative views to appreciate that this is a real victory.

You would be right to assume that "President" Bush (as Moore likes to call him) will not be pleased by the book. Some of the chapters now have sort of a quaint ring, like "A Very American Coup," which explains what really happened to give Florida to Bush in the last election. It's not a matter of chads or butterfly ballots. Bush's brother and his aids were able to purge the polls of black voters, who would have turned out for Gore. It took the BBC to uncover this story, and by the time the American papers got it, no one was very interested. There is plenty more sleaze to this tale, which Moore obviously enjoys telling, and if you want to check on what he claims, he gives references at the end of the book; there are few humor books with a "Notes and Sources" section. It may no longer be unpatriotic to poke fun at the current President, but Moore does not restrict himself to Bush bashing, being equally tough on Clinton and Gore. There are wonderful shots fired here, and a good laugh on almost every page. Bush's inaugural parade came up against protesters armed with eggs and tomatoes and "Hail to the Thief" signs at the point in the parade when the brand new President usually gets out and walks. "Then, suddenly, the President's car bolted and tore down the street. The decision had been made - hit the gas and get past this rabble as quickly as possible. The Secret Service agents running beside the limo were left behind, the car's tires splashing dirty rain from the street onto the men who were there to protect its passenger. It might have been the finest thing I have ever witnessed in Washington, D.C. - a pretender to the American throne forced to turn tail and run from thousands of American citizens armed only with the Truth and the ingredients of a decent omelet." A hilarious letter to President Arafat advises him to initiate mass nonviolent civil disobedience, rather than to keep drawing blood; if this advice had been taken, could the Palestinians be in any worse shape now? About the conflict in Northern Ireland, his advice takes on that of Swift's "Modest Proposal": "This nonsense has gone on long enough. I have a solution that will bring permanent peace to the area: Convert the Protestants of Northern Ireland to Catholicism....Naturally, most of the Protestants won't want to convert - but since when has that stopped the Catholic Church?... All you need is a little water to pour over any Protestant's forehead, and then repeat the following words: 'I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.' That's it! It takes longer to join Weight Watchers!"

It is going to get hard for Moore if things change to the way he wants, for he will have to make his humor out of less urgent and deadly matters. But he is pushing. "If you're finding yourself in a massive fit of rage and start itching to put this damn book down and call your congressman / woman, then folks, do it." He then gives easy access numbers and e-mail references, and it is hard to believe that some readers are not going to do just that. His calls for getting involved on school boards and within other branches of local governments are just what people should be hearing and acting on. If you want good laughs about serious provocation, and serious advocacy, this book is tops.