Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: It was quite an act of publishing this book so recently after 9-11. Moore, in his latest work, sets his sights and his aim on the man who--if you believe polls--still retains a nearly 60% approval rating in this country--after attacks, after a gripping recession, after a, quite frankly, unprovoked declaration of war on Iraq. I guess why Moore is so important at this time is because he takes a well-documented and foot-noted stand against the 2000 election and lays out in simple English the troubling politics of those naughty members of the Bush cabinet. One reason why I did not give this book five stars, however, is because of Moore's positioning on the election issue. Yes, Bush--it is so clearly explained and proved--stole the election, with the help of his brother and his buddies in Enron and a long list of other devious corporate types. But, the question remains, would America have been much better off with a nominally Democratic President? What would having Gore in the Oval Office have done? What would have been better? Sure, we can lament the throwing of the election, but this is all past us now--nearly three years past us. What do we envision better for next time? How can we make the race a real competition--rather than the pathetic, pale WASPy exchange of mediocrity we saw in 2000? I just would have liked to see Moore tackle some of these issues as well. Overall, though, loved the book!
Rating: 
Summary: Good to exorcize your anger!!
Review: This is a good book to exorcize your anger, your lack of money. Because it gives you a target for such hatred: American corporative world and its dirty politicians. That's what's all about.I personally prefer Noam CHomsky books. But this one here is sometimes fun.
Rating:
Summary: Truth or Fiction?
Review: "Stupid White Men" is both a very informative and entertaining book. If the things Michael Moore talks about in his book about are true, then this country has some serious problems that need to be addressed. If not, then this book is a waste of time. The real question then is whether the "facts" in the book are true or not. Of the 50 negative reviews I've read on this site, 27 of them flat out accuse Michael Moore of being a liar. Most of the remaining negative reviewers say the book is lousy because Michael Moore "bashes" America. I wished people accusing Michael Moore of lying listed some EXAMPLES. Here's how one reviewer concluded the book is a bunch of lies: the reviewer wrote "if Michael Moore is correct, we live in an extremely corrupt nation, led by incompetent white men who are both dishonest and stupid". I would agree with the reviewer, but that doesn't prove Michael Moore is lying. ONLY ONE of the 27 reviews I read accusing Michael Moore of lying bothered to give an example (actually two examples). The first lie is that 2/3 of the money raised by President Bush during the Presidential campaign came from just over 700 individuals. The truth is that just over 700 people donated two-thirds of the Republican's "soft" money (money that supports the entire Republican party rather than a specific candidate). However, since Bush was the only serious Republican candidate, this money was essentially being given to him. The 2nd lie is that the US is number one in budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP). The truth is that this wasn't the case under Clinton at the time the book was written. The remaining negative reviewers didn't like the book simply because they felt Michael Moore shouldn't be bashing America. I personally don't know how you can report corruption without making it sound like you are bashing America. We should be careful not to discount the facts in this book just because it means our country isn't perfect. Instead, we should investigate the accusations and for those that prove to be true, we should try to correct them. For the time being, I'll give Michael Moore the benefit of the doubt on the accuracy of his facts (he does do a good job of documenting the sources), and rate the book 5 stars until there is some good evidence that it is a bunch of lies.
Rating: 
Summary: SELF-POTRAIT?
Review: Can we ever be sure if the title of this latest populist addition to Moore's anthology was in fact a self-reference? Yet again, he gets a whole slew of his facts/chronology curiously distorted in support of doozy ideas (which is well documented throughout the reviews here, so I won't regurgitate) but what baffles even more is the priceless linguistic achievement of this effort. Expect to work through gems of journalism like "It is sooooooooo not cool" or through highly intellectual inferences such as "There is no recession, my friends. No downturn. No hard times. The rich are wallowing in the loot they've accumulated in the past two decades, and now they want to make sure you don't come a-lookin' for your piece of the pie." This isn't journalism, and it surely isn't satire (for that, get your hands on almost anything by O'Rourke, Dennis Miller or Buchwald). This is your run-of-the-mill, ill-researched, poorly-edited, brownnosing pandering of popular opinion in the garb of liberalism. Amazing what you can get published these days as long as it makes a decent coin.
Rating:
Summary: Chucklicious Political Read
Review: Are you sick of Republican lies?
Are you tired of those Democrats lacking a back bone?
Annoyed by those weird, high strung Liberals? Answered yes to one or all questions?
I know I have. Then this funny, but painfully true book is the way to go. It may turn you into an activist (what type of activist is up to you), as it has done to me. At the very least, it will get you to vote and pay attention to community and county issues. Republican, Democrat, or Liberal; if you agree or disagree with him, it doesn't matter because; if anything else, he will make you think about the issues, politics, and questions concerning our nation. And THAT'S the point. Thinking about and discussing the issues that concern our great country is something I'm sure you haven't done in ages. Shame on you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not perfect....
Review: Some times M.Moore gets to far out there to quickly....
Rating:
Summary: Rage against the machine
Review: Essentially a rant against the modern political machine, Moore takes aim at what has gone wrong in America thanks in large part to the Reagan Revolution. He starts with the notorious Florida ballots in the 2000 elections, setting up the refrain that Bush was annointed by the Supreme Court rather than elected by the American public. Moore counts himself as one of the 200 million or so Americans who didn't vote for Bush, describing our current political state as that of a junta. However, Moore points out that the Democrats went a long way to creating this political climate by selling out their party. The most notorious years being that of Clinton, which Moore provides one of the many laundry lists noting how conservative Clinton's administration was. Gore didn't seem like much of an alternative to Bush, but Moore still held out hope, beseeching a Tallahasse audience to vote their conscience as it what was shaping up to be a very close election. Moore had thrown his weight behind Nader, feeling that the Green Man was the only alternative to the dreadful state American politics had fallen into, but Moore was scared by the possibility that Bush could pull off the election, especially with a little help from his brother and political friends in Florida, which Moore roundly condemns in this book. So, Moore basically asked those assembled at Florida State University to hear him extoll the virtues of Nader say to vote against Bush. Moore made a last ditch appeal to Naderites to use their bargaining position to force Gore into making concessions. But, the Naderites felt they had gone too far to throw their support behind Gore simply because it looked like Bush might win. Even still, Nader's numbers dropped in the closing days of the election campaign, as it seemed some turned their votes to Gore. But, the fix was in. Moore describes in detail how the Republicans rigged Florida in their favor by dropping thousands of voters from the rolls prior to the general election because of alleged felony charges . Then came the notorious recount, which the Supreme Court in the end chose to abandon when it looked like Gore might still have the numbers to win. In the end it wasn't disaffected Naderites, but the Republican political machine that engineered this victory. Moore infuses his anger with humor. There is almost a Gonzo-like quality to the book that has much appeal, but at times Moore is over the top. He makes Florida into a whipping post for everything that has gone wrong in the country, including the invention of air conditioning which has unleashed unhealthy amounts of freon into the atmosphere, increasing the size of the hole in the ozone layer. Take it anyway you want, but Moore backs up most of his arguments with strong supporting evidence. It is refreshing to see someone rage against the machine that has turned American politics into another form of bland consumerism.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but a Grating Style
Review: "Stupid White Men" is a liberal screed, skewering the Bush family, Republicans, whites, and the wealthy and blaming them for many of the modern world's ills. Ok, that seems pretty fun, and it is... for a while. Moore has done enough research from secondary sources and media websites that he's not making stuff up, but he's more of a savvy hobbyist than an expert in the fields he covers. And he covers a lot of ground: the eleven chapters are divided thematically into discussions about things like the Bush family, lames whites, lame men, American parochialism, etc. He even helpfully documents his research in the "Notes and Sources" section, but it all comes from mainstream newspaper articles. That doesn't make it untrue, just underresearched, more of a college term paper than a serious look at the American system. When he offers advice, a la Thomas Friedman, on how to resolve the problems in the middle east or the former Yugoslavia, he's way out of his league. The book is fun, it's cute, and it may give voice to some of the same outrage that you've felt from time to time. Moore unapologetically only provides one side of the story, coming off as more of a wiseacre who spends a lot of time trying to crack the code of modern political rhetoric. And that's ultimately the part of the book that gets tiring. The tone of voice just grates, until this reader was skimming through the paragraphs of breathless outrage in order to get to the substance of the arguments. Moore's writing style hovers somewhere between the apoplectic college sophomore writing for the school paper and the sarcastic talking heads who blow steam on Sunday morning political shows. It's an interesting book, a fun weekend read, and some of the anecdotes are eye-opening. But it's not terribly serious or groundbreaking. A book to pass around to your friends without worrying about whether they ever return it to you.
Rating:
Summary: Hardly a reference piece
Review: His book, much like his "documentary," takes facts and twists them to his own liking. It does not matter to Moore if one thing happened before another or in a different place, if tying the two together will make it seem like the government (especially republicans) are corrupt than so be it. To those who love this book, while it might make good reading, it is not a valid reference piece. Moore states many apparent facts but has little to no footnotes or endnotes, why is this? If you enjoy the rants of a Marxist, enjoy but if you want to be truly educated, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Telling the truth and untying the lies
Review: Michael Moore, like Jim Hightower and Molly Ivins, dares to reveal the Emperor has NO clothes. As a nation we've swallowed the line about greed is good, even as we lose businesses and jobs to that greed - we swallowed the lies our unelected leaders hand us about being picked by God to rule - we swallow what the media feeds us about daily events, even when they're shown to be lies. Moore unpacks the arrogance and evil of power that goes uncriticized by us all. Thanks for a GREAT read, many good laughs, and a new remembrance that it is WE the people for whom this nation should prevai. Stupid White Men can't have it all.
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