100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken Is #37)

by Bernard Goldberg

Hardcover, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

302.230973

Genres

General Nonfiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Harper (2005), 320 pages

Description

Goldberg takes aim at the America Bashers (the cultural elites who look down their snobby noses at "ordinary" Americans), the Hollywood Blowhards (incredibly ditzy celebrities who think they're smart just because they're famous), the TV Schlockmeisters, the Intellectual Thugs (bigwigs at some of our best colleges), and many more. Some supposedly "serious" journalists also made the list. But Goldberg doesn't just round up the usual suspects we have come to know and detest. He also exposes some of the people who operate away from the limelight but still manage to pull a lot of strings and do all sorts of harm to our culture. Most of all, this book is about a country where as long as anything goes, as one of the good guys in the book puts it, sooner or later everything will go.--From publisher description.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member tuckerresearch

Goldberg takes another popular shot at idiots he thinks are ruining America. I wish there were citations, so you know where his quotes are coming from. And, of course, you can quibble with what number he gives people. I doubt Mary Mapes (#14) is as scary as Ward Churchill (#72). Mapes is out of a

job, Churchill has the aura of scholarly respectability. And he tends towards the cultural filth: Ludacris, Paris Hilton, and Eminem. I like Eminem, he's joking, and, you don't have to listen to him - nor must you let him affect how you act in society. But what is lacking are politicians, federal politicians. These are scary guys because they have power over everyone. Nut-jobs like Barney Frank, Charles Schumer, and Hilary Clinton - people who can march us down the road to socialism and destruction (they aren't mutually exclusive) aren't listed. True there are idiots like Maxine Waters, Al Gore is mentioned as a dishonest fellow, Ted Kennedy shown to be a meanie, but, I could fill this book up with 100 crypto-socialists in the government. Still, it is an entertaining read. The first 54-pages are quite good, laying out his philosophy on what is ruining America. Goldberg comes off as what they now call a "classic liberal." Individual rights filtered through social mores, but social mores not restricting individual rights. Now liberalism is defined as the minority ruling over the majority, because the minority is always right, because it is oppressed by the majority and ipso facto righteous. A victim. But I talk too much.

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LibraryThing member donttalktofreaks

Bernard Goldberg takes swings at every loudmouth liberal, obscene rapper, and just plain ignorance in this book. Thankfully, while landing some low blows, he's able to support what he's saying with quotes and facts. He's highly entertaining with his dry humor. A must read for any conservative.

LibraryThing member bookwormteri

highly entertaining and factual. don't read it if you are a liberal

LibraryThing member mramos

Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy Award-winning correspondent and author. In this book he identifies celebrities, journalists, radicals, and intellectuals whom he criticizes for denigrating the United States. He also examines the erosion of American culture that occurs when selfishness, cynicism, and

vulgarity replace old-fashioned civility, respect, and decency. Mr. Goldberg seems right on the mark and he makes his case with quite candor. The book also does a good job of showing the cultural divide that exists at present in the U.S.A. This book does contain some strong language.

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LibraryThing member jpsnow

Because I enjoyed Bias so much, I was especially surprised to find this book so mediocre. Perhaps it really is true that saying negative things never impresses, but I think the main obstacle is this format. Goldberg can only be superficial in commenting on a field of 100 people. It would have been

more impressive if he had stuck to his opening chapters about the various types of people who are screwing up America. I also disagree with his world view more than I expected. His views are in lock step with the neocon advocacy of the war in Iraq, and he sees little abuse of power by the conservative regime.

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LibraryThing member GBev2010

It's hard to disagree with most of this book. My only quibble is that the author is a conservative so he doesn't blame enough conservatives. In my book there would be an equal number of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians taking blame for the death of our glorious land.

He lists Michael Moore

at number one and simply uses Moore's quote that Americans are the dumbest people in the world. I don't like Michael Moore, but he's right in this case. We are pretty dumb. But so is the rest of the world. We are human after all.

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LibraryThing member foof2you

Easy read, could have been better.

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