A scathing satire of contemporary society.
A pseudonymous author presents a satirical guidebook for world domination.
“For those who are ruthless and cunning enough,” writes the author in this parody’s opening lines, “this handbook will lay the groundwork necessary to oversee a global empire.” Written under the aristocratic pen name “Sir Lawrence McAlister,” the book is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ classic The Screwtape Letters (1943) as a satirical commentary on contemporary life told from the perspective of a megalomaniac. McAlister’s guidebook is dedicated to like-minded tyrants, and the author’s observations offer a scathing critique of 21st century politics, culture, and society. McAlister highlights the ways that elites can use rhetorical mantras to convince average people (derisively referred to as “peasants” throughout) to believe paradoxical ideas that serve the interests of elites, such as the notion that “peace can only be achieved through war.” Another chapter connects the modern day “corporate peasant farm” to feudalism and other forms of human enslavement dating back to ancient Egypt. The satire is particularly critical of modern technology and culture, arguing that smartphones, entertainment media, and public schools help instill “invisible shackles and chains” on the public. As the frequent digs at public education indicate, the book’s politics are generally libertarian (if nonpartisan) in their critiques of government agencies, burdensome tax codes, and surveillance culture. The author critiques the state government of Utah for finding “amusing and creative ways to bilk your peasants” via an additional sales tax on sexually explicit businesses; another passage argues that elites promote the idea of “sex for pleasure” in order to lower the “moral standards” of the populace. While the book’s critiques are well-informed and backed by footnotes, the cynical outlook offers a litany of criticism without providing avenues for meaningful change. Still, for those willing to “embark on the often dark, yet exciting journey that is human conquest,” McAlister more than succeeds in chronicling the ways in which political, economic, and social elites manipulate and control average citizens.
A scathing satire of contemporary society.Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9798218624934
Page Count: 446
Publisher: Ingsoc Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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