I loved Michael Moore's book Stupid White Men - if I had my way I'd make everyone read that book - goodbye Hardy, welcome Mikey!
Sure, not everything hit the mark, but the chapters on how the book was published, how Bush won Florida (and with it the Presidency,) as well as the title chapter, were totally spot on - giving a frightening insight into the side of America you don't see in the movies or on your average Stateside City jaunt.
So my expectations of his new book were very high. Probably too high. The book feels like it has been written in a hurry. There's still some big punches, and a few good laughs, but they don't come as often as before, nor as big.
The first chapter - which focusses on 9/11 and the US response to it - is suitably revelatory, asking lots of v. uncomfortable questions about what Bush did and how he did it. It certainly makes you suspicious of his links to the Saudi's...
The Guardian circulated this - in a G2 section, so if you read that, you could probably live without the rest of this book. It's good, very pamphleteering in style, but it's not as good as it's predecessor.
(Actually some reviewers have got very snobby about this - commenting that all Moore does is collate facts discovered by others and then share them with a wider audience, making lots of money in the process. Sounded like sour grapes to me...)
Sorry Mikey, but I think it's better to save you pennies and look at Moore's website - which also includes some good stuff that his publishers were too scared to put into print.

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