One Hand Jerking: Reports From an Investigative Satirist (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I consider it to be quite a privilege and an absolute pleasure to be writing the introduction to Paul Krassner's wondrous book of essays..." (more)
Key Phrases: satirical prophecy, gay bathhouse, medical marijuana, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After realizing early in life that "one person's logic is another person's humor," Krassner (Murder at the Conspiracy Convention, Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut) has consistently produced clever satire of mainstream media, personalities and ideologies throughout his long, strange career, and, with this collection of essays and reportage, he maintains his status as a counterculture legend and an "unrefined nut" (according to the FBI and the author bio). As editor of satirical magazine The Realist, he pushed the limits of the day by referring women to a doctor who performed abortions before they were legal and publishing an illustration of Disney characters in the midst of "an unspeakable Roman binge." (Influenced, Krassner notes, by Time magazine's "God is Dead" issue.) Krassner's integral role in American counterculture is evident in the anecdotes featuring Lenny Bruce, Abbie Hoffman, Norman Mailer and Hunter Thompson. These writers and humorists are clearly influenced by and an influence on Krassner, whose writing exposes censorship and excessively prudish regulations as the absurd, unreasonable results of giving humorless, hysterical people authority-for instance, he recalls a song was once banned from radio play because it contained humming, an interlude that could be construed as symbolic of coitus. Krassner can make readers howl with laughter, but a few pieces fail to measure up, mainly because Krassner jettisons his commentary and plays the role of reporter/observer. Intelligently irreverent, Krassner's writing crisply and crassly skewers the teeming absurdity in contemporary America.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Krassner hasn't sold out. In an era when surviving members of the Doors are fighting for the right to sell a song to a car company, this is worth noting--and celebrating. Krassner, the less-remembered cofounder of the Yippies (with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin), publisher of the defunct, defiantly free-speech The Realist, and a lifelong "investigative satirist," is still at it, spitting on sacred cows, rethinking conventional wisdom, and refusing to take the money. One Hand Jerking compiles his writings for a diverse array of publications--including the New York Press, High Times, and AVN (Adult Video News) Online--on an equally diverse array of topics. In "Satirical Prophecy," he notes that his joke about a fundamentalist Christian who tattoos "What Would Jesus Do?" on his penis came true, more or less, thanks to a Sunday-school teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota. In "The Transformation of Dennis Miller," he learns that Hitler is responsible for the comedian's conservative rebirth. In "Swimming in the Dead Pool," he puzzles over people who find fulfillment predicting celebrity deaths. Sharp and surprising. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583226966
• ISBN-13: 978-1583226964
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,131,833 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indecent exposures by Paul, April 12, 2006

By	D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Paul Krassner is an American satirist whose observations have won him awards from as unlikely a contrasting set of resources as Playboy and the Feminist Party Media Workshop. His controversial satirical observations have won him acclaim and condemnation around the world, and he's been described by the FBI as a 'raving nut'. ONE HAND JERKING: REPORTS FROM AN INVESTIGATIVE SATIRIST offers up the best of his sometimes-indecent exposures, tackling subjects from international politics to social concerns with a deadly eye for irony and an occasional Lenny-Bruce-style shocker. Highly recommended for any tired of the usual boring social commentary.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so glad this book exists, November 15, 2007

By	Bruce P. Barten (Saint Paul, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I certainly like part of this book, but I am not going to tell you which part, and this book does not have an index, so it won't be easy to look up which part about Lenny Bruce I like, but "The Ballad of Lenny the Lawyer" listed in the Contents is not it. It took so long for Lenny Bruce to get a pardon from New York, where he was convicted of obscenity for a performance at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, that it must have been December 2003 before sufficient hypocrisy had built up so a New York governor could announce a pardon based on "the precious freedoms we are fighting for as we continue to wage the war on terrorism." (p. 111). Anyone who is familiar with Paul Krassner will not be surprised that Lenny Bruce shows up again 43 pages later in a section called "The War On Indecency." So much that I believe gets confirmed in a book like this that I won't describe it any further.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars entertaining writing, but little unique to this book, December 4, 2006

By	James J. Lippard "skeptic" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a collection of Krassner's writings for <EM>High Times</EM>, the <EM>New York Press</EM>, and <EM>AVN Online</EM>, along with a few others. I've read a lot of Krassner's work, and there was a lot here that was quite familiar--many of the stories are ones he has told elsewhere. If you've already read his autobiography, <EM>Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut</EM>; his <EM>Murder at the Conspiracy Convention</EM> and <EM>Sex, Drugs, and the Twinkie Murders</EM>, there will only be a little that's new here.

The book is unfortunately poorly edited, with numerous uncorrected typos which should have been spotted even by automated spellchecking.