Customer Reviews

Where to Invade Next

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I picked this up at the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. Basically what the book entails are snapshots of seven different countries (Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Syria, Sudan,and North Korea) that consist of government, why they are a threat to the United States, and how they can be eliminated as a threat. While very informative, I very seriously doubt it is to be taken seriously. At 82 pages, it's a very quick read.

Here's what I think:
In satire, the writer professes to approve the very thing he or she wishes to attack. The satirist dos so by means of irony: there is discordance between what is said and what is meant. The thing about Where To Invade Next is that it's so convincing in its approval that it hard to tell what is actually meant. There are none of the usual clues to reassure the reader of the writer's true intent. When you read The Onion, you know that they don't really mean anything they say. Where To Invade Next does not have this literary wink. There is no reassuring message that says "We are actually opposed to invasion. This is just a joke."

This is a sort of raw satire, satire stripped of its disclaimers, and it landed on me like a bomb. For an evening I was plunged into the mind of a player operating at the highest levels of world politics. It is a mind burning with terrifying paranoia, genuine care twisted into hate.

This is a different kind of satire. It does not merely mock abusive and violent persons, it takes you inside their minds. In this way it is very effective. Unless, of course, McSweeney's really has gone over to the neo-cons. You just can't tell.