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RUSH LIMBAUGH IS A BIG FAT IDIOT

Name: RUSH LIMBAUGH IS A BIG FAT IDIOT
Author: Al Franken
ISBN: 0-385-31474-4

AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS

by Al Franken ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1996

From an admitted wiseass liberal, and surely not to the taste of the current political majority, this is the kind of...

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Five-time Emmy Award winner Franken (formerly of Saturday Night Live) becomes a political pundit with a vengeance—a vengeance directed against Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, and others of similar stripe, as well as fat old Rush.

If he continues in this vein, Franken may emerge as the funniest public affairs analyst since Walter Lippmann, and he's a tad less scatological than the Hon. Howard Stern. As one may surmise from the title, ad hominem is his modus operandi, and he attacks with a wonderful lack of civility. To be sure, it's the nutcakes on the political right, the religious bigots, and the paranoid paramilitary that he disses, and he does it with two murderous weapons: satire and facts. Franken's sarcasm is an assault weapon fired at the Goodyear blimp (not to be confused with the title character): "If you ask me, the man who has the easiest job in America is Rush Limbaugh's fact checker.'' Colin Powell, Arlen Specter, and Ross Perot, along with Newt, Phil Gramm, and the rest of the men on white horses are treated to the comic's scorn. (He traces Gingrich's theory of sedentary woman versus giraffe- hunting man to its ostensible source in a 1955 Reader's Digest.) To be fair, he also discusses Mr. Clinton, the "greatest president of the twentieth century'' [sic] and reveals the scoop on a Renaissance Weekend with the prexy.

From an admitted wiseass liberal, and surely not to the taste of the current political majority, this is the kind of one-sided discourse we need more of. Complete with a preemptive New York Times book review and an index that is absolutely independent of the text (ranging from "Ailes, Roger, fat like Limbaugh,'' through "outhouse, Limbaugh as big as,'' to "zeppelin, Limbaugh, size of'').

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-385-31474-4

Page Count: 275

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.