Rating: 
Summary: As timely as today's newspaper headlines
Review: Stupid White Men... And Other Sorry Excuses For The State Of The Nation! is the latest political commentary, satire, and outspoken letter to America by the renowned Michael Moore, perhaps best known for his independent movie "Roger & Me" as well as the "TV Nation" television series. Though finished before the terrorist attacks of September 11, Stupid White Men was delayed for long months after the tragedy - which is a terrible shame, for Moore drew the fat-cat connections between the Bush Administration and "Shadow Advisor to the President" head of Enron Kenneth L. Lay (who would "interview" some of the administration's appointees before they could get a job) long before Enron's outrageous financial scandal became headline news. Michael Moore pulls no punches, from the gut-wrenching and criminal denial of the right to vote throughout Florida (and other places) that resulted in "President un-elect Bush" to painting an ironic, tongue-in-cheek picture of Bill Clinton as "one of the best Republican Presidents we've ever had." Half comedy, but half very serious and highly researched political insight, Stupid White Men is both hilarious and compelling reading all the way to the end. If Michael Moore has a flaw, it's in his inability to fully comprehend the importance of globalization in today's economy and politics. If he has a talent, it's his visceral gut-instinct feel for perfectly articulating the heart and soul of the everyday American, buffeted by tidal forces that buy and sell human lives like rock salt at the grocery store. If he has a great virtue, it is in his exhortation that Americans everywhere get up and get involved in the political process before it's too late - by voting, by writing congressmen and senators, by running for office, by using every legal means to change the future. Stupid White Men is a highly recommended social issues comentary and as timely as today's newspaper headlines.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining read, but loose.
Review: I enjoyed this book, it is certainly funny and says many things I agree with, but this was only for a few chapters. The rest is all over the place topic-wise. Moore writes about his personal peeves, as is his wont, but 60% of this book is probably more interesting to him than it is too others. I recommend it only for the single chapter that deals with the book title.
Rating:
Summary: The world needs more Michael Moores!
Review: This book is a great read but more important than that, it's not afraid to say politically incorrect things and/or to question authority figures, including Bush. (Moore refers to him as Junior throughout the book and makes mincemeat out of his intellectual abilities.) Fun and yet thought provoking too. If only I could give this five stars and five stripes!
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Asks some excellent questions...
Review: Great criticism of our government and society. Moore uses humor and tough facts to prove his point (or many points). More often than not, the finger of criticism is pointed back at the reader! Moore answers the eternal question: What is this world in such a mess? Because we allow it to happen!!Moore is intelligent and pushes the buttons that need to be pushed. A must-read for any literate American!!...
Rating: 
Summary: You've really got to try ...
Review: I read this book not once, not twice, but three times. It seems to me that, although this guy has a decent following of loyal readers (judging by the reviews), you've really got to try to find value and truth in this book. It's yet another politician skewing and criticizing the actions of other politicians. Look through the hype and rhetoric, the author is no different than the folks he claims to despise. I also find the title woefully racist, however worthy of the small but growing number of caucasions that would rather blame all of the world's problems on themselves ... less conflict that way. Imagine the same title with "white" replaced with "black". Now there's conflict. In short, the author sings very old songs to very receptive ears. The mouths that belong to those ears seem to believe he's saying something different. He's not. Read almost anything from the 60's. It's the same old, same old. To anyone wanting to truly get the nuts and bolts of this book, skip the first chapter ... really not what the author is about... I hope. From there you'll find SOME words of wisdom, but "you've really got to try".
Rating: 
Summary: A needed criticism
Review: Michael Moore is back with some heavy criticism with how society is evolving. Guess what - we need it! While the Chomskys of the world are providing social criticism that's unbelievable or inaccessible, Moore provides a down to Earth explanation of where we're going wrong. Some interesting points:
- He covers his breakup with Ralph Nader.
- If even half of what he says about Bush is true, we're in a world of trouble!
- He provides ways to be a humorous troublemaker. So where does he go wrong?
- Some of the more far-fetched accusations should be backed with some supporting data.
- Bush got elected - get over it already!
- The continued vindictiveness is a little too much. Is it still a worthwhile read? Quite so!
Rating:
Summary: Pure Moore
Review: Badly needed? Of course! Funny? Yes, at least most of the time! Funnier than Mollie Ivins or Jim Hightower whose books routinely cover much the same ground? Well... Not really. All three are expert at puncturing America's hot-air balloons with insight, research, and, of course, well aimed humor. Then why should this leftish jape top the charts in near unprecedented fashion -- a perhaps more interesting topic than the book itself. I don't have the answer, but I expect it has something to do with popular frustration, timing, and the Bush agenda of perpetual war on dissent and the planet. The book itself is rather uneven, ranging from a truly eloquent chapter on crime in America, to a revealing chapter on the Florida recount, to a mediocre Epilogue, to a poorly conceived "Kill Whitey". But, hey, a fella can't roll a 300 every time. Are white men indeed stupid? Aside from the pathetic ignoramus in the White House and the threat of global warming to which their response is business as usual, Moore has a clever title, a rich source of humor, but not much of a case. In fact the political arm of American capital has proven over time to be extremely unstupid at advancing its agenda. So unstupid, that it now stands on the threshold of world conquest. Poking fun is one thing, taking seriously is another. Their real stupidity comes from believing that the environment like everything else can be reduced to a businessman's short-term horizon. My gripe with genuine liberals like Moore centers around "Taking the country back". Heck, Mike, the people never had the country in the first place, not even during the sainted presidential years 1933 -1945. The really backward white men are those of us who've been slow to catch on.
Rating:
Summary: humor and intelligence
Review: Michael Moore writes an excellent book on the state of our country. He brings topics such as the role of Democratic party in politics and whether or not they still represent the left. He also gives a humorous liberal's approach to the 2000 election. There are plenty of other hot topics like race and the environment and how they have been affected in the 90s and how they will be affected in years to come. Bottom line: Funny and smart
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This book packs quite a punch! Finally, a liberal has the guts to stand up for PRINCIPLE instead of wimpy ol' image. Mike speaks his mind, and then some. The book is funny from page one to the end, but serious in its message that we all have to get up and do something about where our country is going. Refreshing and hilarious, yet with the potential to make a person very angry, this book is the best in a long, long time. I especially recommend the letter to "President" George W. Bush. (It mentions that there's nothing wrong with drug addiction, alcoholism and inability to read a simple sentence, there are many avenues where such people can get help....)
Rating:
Summary: Funny? Yes! But, really, let's not take this too seriously
Review: ... Exhibit A in the latter category is one Michael Moore. His new book, "Stupid White Men," has soared to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, just when most liberals had conceded that the American book market now belongs to the right. Moore became best known as the director of a documentary about corporate downsizing in Flint, Michigan, called "Roger And Me." The film mocked both corporate leaders, and just as viciously the ordinary Americans naive enough to believe that hard work might bring them financial rewards and a leg up the social hierarchy. This general belief in the inherent and unreformable iniquity of American capitalism, the evil of all corporations, and the elite conspiracies to defraud and defund ordinary Americans are all classic tropes of the paranoid American left - and Moore endorses every single one of them. In fact, there's almost a beauty in the way in which he backs up every single left-wing prejudice - from hatred of successful white people to hostility to car-owners, from the ability to drop Sweden into every argument about the welfare state to the notion that capitalism is always a zero-sum game in which every gain for the rich is always and everywhere a loss for the poor. Alongside this theological zeal goes a general belief in the idiocy and indolence of most Americans, and the stupidity and malevolence of their leaders. If you're a Guardian reader - this book's for you! There's no point in seeking a coherent thread through Moore's book - it's a rant, a series of rhetorical explosions, fantasies and occasional facts that build upon each other through repetition rather than logic. The notions that evil corporations, for example, actually employ and help people, or that shares in them enrich others, are nowhere entertained. It is also a given in Moore's universe that, despite exhaustive media recounts that have found no such thing, George W. Bush lost the election and his "presidency" (always in quotation marks) is illegitimate. "Can I say this any louder?" Moore screeches at one point, "Bush didn't win! Gore did." But Moore is equally furious at the Democrats. He describes Bill Clinton as one of the most successful Republican presidents in recent years, and supported Ralph Nader in 2000. His contempt for Al Gore, despite believing in his election victory, is arguably more intense than his antipathy to Bush. "Friends," he belabors, "when are we going to stop kidding ourselves? Clinton, and most other contemporary Democrats, did not and will not do what is best for us or the world we live in. We don't pay their bill - the top 10 percent do, and it is their will that will always be done. I know you already know this; it's just hard to say it because the alternative looks so much like ... Dick Cheney." Moore's argument, like that of most purist class-war leftists, is therefore oddly disempowering. He's always calling for some sort of mass revolution, but there is no institution capable of delivering it which isn't already corrupted by Moore's exacting standards. He supported a purist left-wing candidate in 2000, Ralph Nader, who took enough votes from Al Gore to hand George Bush the Oval Office. His desire to turn the United States into the Netherlands overnight makes his politics more than a little quixotic. So his politics become a little like the politics of the far right under Bill Clinton - an endless tirade designed to appeal solely to those who already agree, a kind of aesthetic politics more attuned to the correct left-liberal life-style and outlook than any tangible alternative to the current system. Moore's politics are, in the words of Philip Roth, "the combination of embitterment and not thinking." There is also barely a mention in Moore's book about the current war on terrorism...
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