The Most Dangerous Man in America: Rush Limbaugh's Assault on Reason [Hardcover]

John K. Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2011

Rush Limbaugh is the most prominent figure in the conservative movement today. With almost 20 million listeners every week on more than six hundred stations, Limbaugh has a larger media platform than any other individual in the nation. And this is why he is so dangerous. 
     Despite refusing to uphold even the most basic standards of journalism, Rush has been given an extensive, wide-reaching platform with which to spew his venom. And spew it he does! In this book, author John K. Wilson uses the most damning evidence of all—Rush’s own words—to deliver the ultimate indictment of Limbaugh’s bankrupt ideology and how it embodies the decline of the conservative movement.
     Wilson catalogs the world according to Rush—from the political conspiracies to his disdain for scientific evidence and apparent love of racist, sexist, and homophobic stereotypes—and shows how the radio personality poisons any rational political rhetoric with an endless stream of slurs, lies, and intimidation. Most revealingly, the author demonstrates how Limbaugh’s blustering, baseless proclamations and love for savage, personal attacks have had a chilling effect on both parties, as he viciously targets not only liberals but also any Republican who dares question one of his conclusions. Meanwhile, Rush’s viselike grip on the political arena has created a media monster so powerful that even liberal commentators are forced to engage with him and his polarizing discourse.
     The Most Dangerous Man in America reveals Rush Limbaugh to be just that.  No matter what you thought about the man before, you will never feel the same way about him again.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"No matter what you think you know about Rush Limbaugh, be prepared to discover that he is even more evil and more dangerous than you ever imagined. John Wilson unmasks America’s leading conservative as a shallow thinker, intolerant bigot, and congenital liar. And that’s just for starters."

--Bill Press, host of The Bill Press Show and author of Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America’s Airwaves

 

“No matter what you think you know about Rush Limbaugh, be prepared to discover that he is even more evil and more dangerous than you ever imagined. John Wilson unmasks America’s leading conservative as a shallow thinker, intolerant bigot, and congenital liar. And that’s just for starters.”

—Bill Press, host of The Bill Press Show and author of Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America’s Airwaves

Praise for Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest

 

“Essential reading for anyone wishing to try to make more sense of contemporary American presidential politics and social policy. Highly recommended for all libraries.”

—Library Journal

“A thoughtful look at what Obama’s candidacy means.”

—Booklist

 

About the Author

JOHN K. WILSON is the author of six previous books, including Newt Gingrich: Capitol Crimes and Misdemeanors, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest, and Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies. He is the editor of Illinois Academe, the newspaper of the Illinois conference of the American Association of University Professors. For more information, please visit www.limbaughbook.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312612141
• ISBN-13: 978-0312612146
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #997,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars must read December 3, 2012

By butterbean

Format:Hardcover

This is a must read for all americans. The lies and distortions of Liebaugh cannot be screamed loud enough. Ditto and dittoheads are drowning in their lies.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Dangerous Man In America September 12, 2012

By Mayo

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A great and well documeted book for those with an "open mind" (Probably not for "ditto heads") It gives a whole new meaning for the words "liar" and "hypocrite"

I was born in 1943 in a Republican family and this man is the destruction of that party.

27 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Book May 14, 2011

By Ignatius Rzeznik

Format:Kindle Edition

This book shows that Limbaugh is a liar and a hypocrite. He is a master of copying Joseph Goebells, the Nazi propaganda minister, big lie. " The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous" from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia. Also From the encyclopedia " "The phrase was also used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler's psychological profile." His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.""

33 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Strange Man Indeed March 26, 2011

By A. Ryan

Format:Hardcover

This book reads like a dictionary of the life and times of the most VILE man in "show business". Here is a man that suggested America strip College students out of their scholarships if found with a joint of pot yet this man was "caught" cough' cough'... doctor shopping for thousands of illegel pills which is punishable for years in the slammer. Here is a man that was on welfare back in his younger days but now makes 1mill per week and slams the people that need it. Here is a man that got fired from his radio jobs for not fact checking his stories time and time again and still won't lift one of his fat fingers to open a book and read once in a while. Here is a man that blames Obama on the housing collapse, the bank bail-out and the overall collapse of the economy when Obama wasn't sworn in as president until AFTER Bush/Bernake/Paulson signed TARP to "bailout" thier buddies see: "corporate welfare" Jere is a man that thinks we shouldn't be spending money when a person gets sick, yet goes to a top Hawaii Hospital for a "scare" see:clean bill of health and comes out of the hospital quoted as saying that there is nothing wrong with our healthcare, most everybody can afford the care I was offered with a grin on his face (tell that to the 60 mill un-insured and no insurance , Rush)

Yes, you too can learn about the cuddly, god-fearing anti-racist, loving man in this book.

33 of 60 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A Library Book Only April 6, 2011

By Tbone

Format:Hardcover

The book starts out ok. The author admits that he is a liberal and that he does not agree politically with Rush, and writes that he will not be using politics in the book. That said, he seemed to do a fairly unbiased review of Rush's radio history. It was all fairly straight forward, though looked at a little from the negative point of view (every thing seemed to dwell on how he left a job as fired or on how he was not very good at what he did or how he imitated others that were doing well instead of looking at things from a positive perspective, such as he wanted a change, there was a change of format, etc.). The digs began to come in the first real chapter in the book, the one on racism.

The book takes many quotes of Rush's and uses them as support for the author's belief that Rush is a real racist and actually hates or strongly dislikes or looks down on blacks. The quotes he takes are usually one liners taken with little or no context given. The most popular "example" for Rush was the Donavan McNabb story. The author gave one or two cuts of one sentence and gave little to no context on Rush's perspective on the issue. The author gave a paragraph or two of players or coaches and their opinions, but did not go into any depth at all on Rush's premise or argument in general. At that point, it seemed like this was the beginning of a hit piece book.

I would have thought that, given 20 years or so of monologue material to pick from, the author would have come up with one or two extensive quotes to use in a 40 page chapter on Rush's "obvious" racist tendencies, but no. Some of the one liners I have heard on the show, and they were bits of an extensive monologue where it was quite obvious that the comment was part of a joke or hyperbolic ridicule (aka, humor).... When Rush calls Obama a "manchild", I do not take it as racist. I take it as Obama has so little experience in the profession he chose that he behaves as if he is a "child" in the arena. The "man" part of "manchild" is the fact he is the president and thus commands the room, even though as Rush puts it, "he is the least experienced person of any room he walks into." I do not, in any way, consider the term "manchild" to be racist, as this author does. And that is just one example in that chapter.

The author wrote in the early part of the book that this was to be non political. Yet by page 40, the author claims, with absolutely no supporting evidence to go along with the claim, that the Supreme Court to which Sotomayor was nominated to was a conservative activist court. By this point in the book, all claims are basically a joke and unsupported in general context. Most claims are backed by very selective "fact" picking for any and all topics presented. The author never quotes Rush by taking more than two contiguous sentences but quotes others at length. You see the most glaring example of this near the end of the book on page 275 where David Brooks is given one half of the page in one long quote. Considering the book is actually about Rush, you would think this would have been reversed. I could go on, chapter by chapter, but I believe what was described in the first chapter on racism was example enough of what the entire book is like in that regard.

The author presents the general talking points of most political pundits that talk about Rush at any length. The author presents little to no alternate views countering his interpretation of the "facts" he presents, when he does, to support his point. The omission of such obvious facts that would immediately contradict an outrageous claim (e.g., Obama is the most criticized president in history because of talk radio, the author leaves out the eight years where W. Bush was criticized to the point where a "documentary" was made on how to assassinate him) occurs throughout the book and is extremely frustrating. I found myself yelling out loud at the book as I was reading.

The last point I want to make about this book was that it was surprisingly poorly written. Chapters are supposed to have a unifying theme throughout, but the author seemed to bounce around from topic to topic like a ping pong ball. And the titles for each chapter seemed more like a formatting thing to give the reader a place to stop reading for a bit. Between that, the personal attacks, cherry picking of info, omission of relevent facts, and exceedingly poor logic, the book is an extremely frustrating read. I am very glad I got it at the library. Maybe those idealogues that enjoy anything anti-conservative or anti-Rush will probably love the book. But others that simply appreciate a political book with perspective, or a well thought out critique of a popular figure, this book sucks. Read more ›

4 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars So this is why where we are today March 27, 2012

By Lientje

Format:Hardcover

I have got a long way to go in this book yet, and I am sure that I will write another review or add to this one.

I have been of the opinion, myself, for the last 20 years, that this man is the worst thing that has happened to the USA in my lifetime and that includes 9/11.
What I didn't know is that he is as uneducated as he sounds. What didn't surprise me is that he comes from a Southern, deeply conservative family, with the father
absolutely at the head of the household and a tyrant to boot. It sounds like something out of a hellish movie. And considering the number of people who listen to his
drivel on a daily basis, the situation with our educational system is really brought home. If we had a really decently educated population, this guy would be talking to
the four walls in a lone studio in some backwater town. Sort of where he started.

But right now, I would like to ask this question? Why didn't he have his nose hairs clipped before someone took that picture.