Customer Reviews
TV-show in a book - By: Wilgerboom, 29 Mar 2008 
This book is fantastic. A great easy read that feels very much like watching TV. The book is reallly well written. I would have placed the religion chapter elsewhere though, some of my friends were so upset by that chapter that they stopped reading, so if you are a sensitive reader, skip the chapter on religion. The chapter on science is classic.
Bipartisan, But Not Really! - By: Martin A Hogan, 16 Dec 2007 You MUST buy this book! You WILL buy this book! If you even go this far, you understand (or maybe, as even I don't completely get it alll), you will realize that Colbert's humor is the most severely slanted of parodies. But even with every observation or comment, Colbert manages to inflect a bit of `truism' without making you crazy with common sense politics. I have to admit that one highlight is the "speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner" transcript. I would never have the b*lls to stand up there in front of the world & let it fly! I have not had so much fun reading a book about a (so-callled) dry subject as politics in...I don't remember! Please vote, even if you are from the United Kingdom!
Love this guy! - By: Claire Heaton, 30 Nov 2007 Purchased this book as a stocking filler for my son this Christmas, & had to read it from front to back before gift wrapping! Can't decide who I love the most - Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart - they are both up there on top of my list - what would we do without these guys! Please let the US writers strike end soon & get these guys back in business!
THE ALL-AMERICAN EAGLE HAS LANDED! - By: NeuroSplicer, 19 Oct 2007 Pardon my typo]s...I am stillll in stiches!!!
If you are a fun of Colbert's show - this is a MUST HAVE!
If you want to learn what irony is - this is where to look!
If you are a Democrat - this is your cheerleader, memorize for arguments.
If you are a Republican - this is your enemy, keep his book closer!
If you are Bill O'Reilly - this is your new dart board, go crazier!
This is 100% Pure Unadulterated Truthiness - don't let mere Facts cloud it up.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Stephen Colbert Is the Thinking Person's Archie Bunker for the 21st Century - By: Donald Mitchell, 15 Oct 2007 When the television series All in the Family came out, it was quite a sensation when Archie Bunker expressed alll of the prejudices that we had come to believe were held by white working class members of society in the 1960s through the early 1980s. Just to be sure that no missed the point that the show was a satire, Archie would argue with his liberal college student son-in-law, Michael Stivic (played by Rob Reiner), to bring out the contrasts to Archie's Neanderthal beliefs. Archie (played brilliantly by Carroll O'Connor) was always happy to be right in his own mind, even when proven wrong.
Part of what made the show so funny was to hear someone espousing prejudiced views in a seemingly sincere fashion, with no apologies to anyone.
Stephen Colbert's book, I Am America, captures that same essential humor as he espouses the prejudiced views of the white conservative person . . . but with no one to argue with him except you the reader in your own mind.
If you have ever watched Mr. Colbert perform on television, I'm sure you'll be like me & hear his voice recounting the one-liners. That made it extra fun for me!
The book has an unusual design that adds to the humor, including room for margin & foot notes to spear the points even harder, fictitious essays by average citizens, humorous photographs & illustrations, puzzles, games, stickers, & even a bound-in book ribbon.
Unlike a lot of humor books, he doesn't shy away from the delicate subjects like religion, sex, homosexuals, evolution, & illegal immigrants. Having seen how much fun he had in those areas, it made me wonder why more comedians don't take these areas in "clean" ways like Mr. Colbert does.
The humor often digs into a deeper level, exposing the hypocrisy of self-serving self-promotions that many book authors shamelessly employ, those who failed to act in honorable ways (such as those who produced names of "fellow travelers" for the HUAC in the 1950s), & even the toadying that goes in with regards to Islam in the media.
The only way he could have made this book any funnier would have been to create a state-by-state version of wrong headedness. Perhaps that will be the focus for a future book.
I Am America bears close reading; many of the layers of humor are well submerged below the surface of the main gag. I found myself rereading many sections several times in appreciation for the subtle jokes.
Alas, it's alll too true. If you are like me, you'll probably find yourself realizing that you, too, have room to improve.
Bravo, Mr. Colbert!
