my name is mwd

Michael Moore is an angry man. Don’t be fooled by his pleasent manner whne you see him on TV in things like TV Nation and Bowling For Columbine, see him live (I was fortunate enough to see him before a screening of BFC last year) or on a panel program (he was on Question Time when it was in New York last year) - he’s got a lot to say about Bush, Blair, the war on Iraq, and such things. His previous book, Stupid White Men, was a brilliant look at the Bush administration and how it was in the pockets of major corporations, and yet quite witty at the same time. It reads like the passive Moore you’d see when he’s in a film of his.

Dude, Where’s My County? is Moore in a rantfest. It is the out pourings of a man that is not happy with his country’s leader, and is not happy with the likelyhood that it’s going to change any time soon. He’s not happy with the unanswered questions of the 9/11 attacks. This is one angry man. This book makes for a facinating read of facts about the Bush administration and also of the strange events surrounding 9/11 (like, how lots of Saudie’s were ferried out of the country on private jet days after 9/11 whilst everyone else was grounded), all marticulously referenced (when you’re saying anything as potent as this, you’d better have something to back it up!). Just to see the madness of the state of the US at the moment, I recommend this book.

But… it’s not as good a read as SWM was. It’s less coherent, and a lot of the closing stages of the book are very US specific, despite the cosy world wide release feel you get from the introduction. I found the early stages both riveting and amusing and distrurbing, but the later parts of the book kind of left me cold. I have to confess that I find the UK government not that interesting, and I’m ignorant to lots of how the US govenrment works (unlike this man :) and more specifically, who’s who.

But, still, it’s worth reading, but if you’ve not read SWM or seen BFC, I recommend them first.

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Link: http://www.michaelmoore.com/