Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America

In Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Dan Savage eviscerates the right-wing conservatives as he commits each of the Seven Deadly Sins himself (or tries to) and finds those everyday Americans who take particular delight in their sinful pursuits. Among them: Greed: Gamblers reveal secrets behind outrageous fortune. Lust: "We're swingers!"-you won't believe who's doing it. Anger: Texans shoot off some rounds and then listen to Dan fire off on his own about guns, gun control, and the Second Amendment. Combine a unique history of the Seven Deadly Sins, a new interpretation of the biblical stories of Sodom and Gomorrah, and enough Bill Bennett, Robert Bork, Pat Buchanan, Dr. Laura, and Bill O'Reilly bashing to more than make up for their incessant carping, and you've got the most provocative book of the fall.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member badrabbyt

i totally enjoyed this book. dan savage commits each of the seven deadly sins as best he can. but i like anything dan savage writes. it's possible that he could publish his shopping list, and i'd be thrilled.

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LibraryThing member k8_not_kate

Dan Savage may very well be the funniest columnist alive. I think he is at his best in the shorter format of his advice column, but this book was still fabulously entertaining. Savage argues his opinions strongly but never preaches to the reader and never makes a point without injecting some humor.

LibraryThing member bookwormteri

When I grow up (I am 33), I want to be a straight, female version of Dan Savage. He is the thinking liberal who doesn't just embrace everything, he takes it apart and studies it and decides whetheer it really makes sense. This is his trip through the seven deadly sins (kind of) and why, maybe, they

are so "deadly" after all. Thought provoking, intelligent, and, well, liberal. Dan, if you ever come to Cleveland, I will go be a glutton with you!

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LibraryThing member aketzle

A quick read, and very funny!!

LibraryThing member ErikaWasTaken

Though I agree with Dan politically, I found myself skipping the political portions of the book. The parts that stood out for me were his conversations with the people and the amazingly "average" portrayal of the people he encountered.

LibraryThing member MiaCulpa

It seems a damning indictment on my psyche that my first recollection of "Skipping towards Gomorroh", some years after reading it, is not Savage's discussions about gun control or gay rights but rather his reference to his hiking stint that left him with such a groin rash he had to pull his meat

and two veg out and cup them in his hand as he walked along.

That aside, I found Savage's main argument; that Americans should be all about the pursuit of happiness, so why are all these conservative writers opposed to so many avenues of happiness?, to be quite convincing, although I still have concerns about his support for gun ownership.

All in all, a valuable addition to the American debate over individual rights.

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LibraryThing member kaelirenee

There are Seven Deadly Sins, and there is a slew of politicians who want to make sure we don't engage in them. Savage takes us through these sins, exercising his own version of the sin, and does a convincing job explaining why the laws restricting things like smoking marajuana or gay marriage are

ridiculous. An entertaining and informative read-he sprinkles in just enough statistics to give his thesis some weight.

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LibraryThing member ritaer

Savage decides to explore the seven deadly sins and take stock of current American morality as being scolded by the right wing virtuecrats

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