However, Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, who is also also known for his guerilla film-making (The Awful Truth and Roger and Me), has to be one of the most screamingly funny, incisive looks at the state of the country since the so-called "grownups" (Bush and company) took over, and the Democrats started nodding off in the corridors of power. In the course of the book he also manages to offend just about everyone not just politicians. His targets include but are not limited to racists, white men, corporate bottom feeders, Southerners, Fundamentalists, Naderites, Yugoslavians, Sno Cones (facing extinction), Stuff Inside Wax Lips (industrial waste), and the Village Idiot, otherwise known as the title of the chapter called, "Idiot Nation."

Yet, the book is more than satire of a high order. It is a critical appraisal of the current state of the nation, its people, its leaders, and its place as a leader among the nations of the world. For all his brilliant humor, his look at a contemporary society heading into God-only-knows-what future of genetic engineering, perplexing cyberspace, increasing corporate control over our lives and a plutocratic government becoming less and less in touch with the people it governs is chilling.

That HarperCollins published a book so critical of the Bush Administration and its associated right wing zealotry and corporate concerns in the aftermath of 9/11, is a testament to the courage of the publisher, and indicates that at least some remnants of freedom of the press still exist in the this country. Still, the book had a rocky road to publication and came close to being suppressed. In the middle of its first press run in September of last year, Moore was told that he would need to revise some of the material critical of Bush, as the publisher felt that the "People" did not want to see their President in a critical light, but as a hero.

Moore flat out refused to alter a single word. News of the situation eventually leaked to the press, and a group of librarians started a letter writing campaign to HarperCollins, who relented, published the book and soon discovered that they had a runaway national bestseller on their hands. Moore has stated publicly that he admires the Publisher for "doing the right thing."

I can see the publicity managers at Harper cringing (not to mention Karl Rove and Karen Hughes) when they perused such passages as this from the chapter called, "Dear George:"

If you are going to be Commander-in-Chief, you have to be able to communicate your orders.. What if these little slipups keep happening? Do you know how easy it would be to turn a little faux pas into a national-security nightmare? No wonder you want to increase the Pentagon budget. We'll need all the firepower we can get after you accidentally order the Russians "wiped out," when what you meant to say was, "I need to wipe the Russian dressing off my tie.

Now you may think that this is a book written by a Liberal out to trash the Republicans and the President that many Americans (Loyal Americans, it should not be necessary to add.) feel was appointed. OK, well, yes--in a way! However, Moore is more populist than liberal and does not just jab at the Republicans; he throws some roundhouse punches at the Democrats also, for whom he reserves a special chapter, "Democrats, DOA." He accuses the Democrats of not representing their constituency or standing up enough to the Right Wingers, especially the Christian Right and for not doing enough to halt the ongoing takeover of the country by the corporations and other moneyed interests. And as for Clinton. . .well, he does have some positive things to say about the former President, but he adds that he was probably one of the best "Republican" presidents ever.

While some of his most adept satire is aimed at politicians and the corporations who all too often own them, he also takes aim at many icons of contemporary American society. Obviously from the title, he has some choice words for "whitey:"

White people scare the crap out of me. This may be hard for you to understand since I am white. . .Every person who has ever harmed me in my lifetime--the boss who fired me, the teacher who flunked me, the principal who punished me. . .the executive who didn't renew "TV Nation" [Moore's short-lived television series], the guy who was stalking me for three years. . .the contractor who overcharged me. . .everyone of these individuals has been a white person!

Whether Republican or Democrat, corporate chieftain or Joe Sixpack, Moore makes an all too unsettling though humorous case that they are all just "stupid white men," IQs not quite hitting on three digits. Even more frightening, in his view they are as clueless of the navigation of the "Ship of State" in the waters of foreign policy as they are of the needs of the people for clean water and air, the educational needs of children, justice for all Americans, and safety nets for workers in a boom/bust, cyclic economy.

Hemingway once defined a writer as someone with a "built-in crap detector." Well, if that is the definition, then Michael Moore, has patented and built an original version of that invaluable machine. With his restless, incisive wit and devastating cynicism, Moore at his best reminds me somewhat of a Mark Twain or even a Jonathan Swift. However, as a satirist, Moore is probably neither as cynical as the incomparable Twain nor as imaginative as the ineffable Swift. Rather, he is in a class by himself; a brilliant wit and caricaturist with the precise timing of Vaudeville slapstick in his send-up of contemporary society and politics. No one is left out in his brazen attack on the mores and absurdities of American culture:

. . .this wonderful psycho nation of idealists and accountants who only want the right to drive their Chevy Blazers across the fruited plain, whose only request is to someday be told the difference between "partly sunny" and "partly cloudy," who seek nothing more than a cellular plan with enough peak-time free minutes so they'll always be ready if one of their kids should call from inside a school shooting. . .

Moore's knows his subject well and his years as a political activist and all around socio-political gadfly add greatly to his observations of American life and interpretations of the political scene at the beginning of this new millennium.

By the way, I said that Michael Moore is a populist. Let's check! The American Heritage Dictionary (4th Edition) offers the following definitions of the word, "populist:"

NOUN: 1. A supporter of the rights and power of the people.
ADJECTIVE: 1. Of or relating to populism or its advocates: a populist aversion to business monopolies.

Yup, Moore's a populist.

He believes in that wise ol' saying stated so eloquently on a bloody, nineteenth century battlefield by a past president with a long face and a dark beard "that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish."

Hey, wait a minute; I think that guy may have been a Republican!

Editor's Note: Though I am something of a populist myself and do admire Michael Moore's excellent book, I do respect all political concerns whether liberal, conservative, populist, socialist, green or any shades above, below or in-between.

In this regard, to be fair, I must mention that since publication of this review, some authorities have challenged Mr. Moore's facts. For another point of view, you may wish to check out this alternate view of the book at Spinsanity.