The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt TaibbiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The basic premise of The Great Derangement is that as Americans, we have no real leadership. We are so used to being lied to and screwed over that in essence, we are forced to create our own reality to deal with it. Matt Taibbi hilariously explores this world of derangement.
After he explains just how mind-numbingly pointless most sessions of Congress are--one bill “debated” is over whether or not to name a post office after Ava Gardner--he gets into how the Government is really run. The real business of politics, we are depressingly and shockingly reminded, is to reward donors, and is mostly run behind closed doors, far away from the floor of the House or Senate. Taibbi explores the world of the Religious Right and the 9-11 Truth Movement, and shows just how similar they really are in terms of their unwillingness to deal with reality.
I was moved by his depiction of the U.S soldiers in Iraq--Taibbi seems like he grew to genuinely care about these people in a way that transcended his feelings about the war.
There were parts of this book where I laughed out loud--his discomfort with being a zombie-like Christian in his secret infiltration of a Fundamentalist Church: looking forward to church, with the fellowship and off-key singing and speaking in tongues, all the while feeling remorse at his role in deceiving them for the sake of writing a book.
This guy can really write. Thoroughly enjoyable.
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