Rating: 
Summary: A Wicked and Witty Guilty Pleasure
Review: Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in!! (With apologies to the Godfather!) So you thought you'd had enough of the Clinton/Lewinsky shenanigans? Nah! Not till you read this wickedly funny account. Joe Eszterhas has written a big nasty hoot of a book. It's a "take no prisioners" account of the sorry and sordid affair that shook the sacred halls of DC and scared the pants back on some of Washington's more notable philanderers. The pace is fast and the book leaps back and forth in time, telling the story in two voices, that of Eszterhas himself, and in boldface type, that of his demented alter ego, the little man who lives inside him. I don't even want to think about WHERE inside him this little guy has taken up residence. Eszterhas slashes and burns indiscriminantly, trashing both LA and DC. He knows where the bodies are buried and does not hesitate to tell us. Over and over he makes the point that Hollywood is the place Clinton really belongs, saying that his kind of behavior is the norm there. The gossip is hot and lowdown and probably at least 75% true. If you like your tell-all books wicked and witty this will definitely be to your taste. I loved it even though I hated myself in the morning!
Rating:
Summary: MUCH more than smutty tell-all
Review: What a memorable and highly rewarding read. This book is much more than the sum of it's salacious and often repugnant contents; it's also a lecture on morality and a history lesson as well. I don't see how someone who reads this book can be derisive regarding the interlacing of fiction or the sheer amount of sordid detail. Given Eszerhas' talent for script writing and keen interest for the underbelly of the American society, how his book is put together should be no surprise. It's certainly not a novel or a bucket of heresay poo.
I am one who is generally both revolted and amused by the tabloids, and shows like Entertainment Television. But I could not put this book down. The book is informative and revealing, and I found myself lauging out loud and cringing, often while reading the same paragraph. I particularly enjoyed the moments where Eszterhas reflects on his own life; it's probably the most engaging aspect of the book. Expecting to find a smutty and over the top tell-all, I found something rich in intelligent, values-based writing.
Rating: 
Summary: messed up, sexed up, sleazoid = joe eszterhas
Review: Whenever Joe Eszterhas writes, he always manages to include sexual innuendo, sexual talk, & sexually offensive language.Cant he get his mind out of the gutter? This book is perverted and buying this filth will only help eszterhas get more money for writing smut.
Rating: 
Summary: White House Babylon
Review: While not a classic, American Rhapsody, (the title a play on the author's Hungarian roots), is outrageous, funny and a pathetic essay on the times. Eszterhas writes in an entertainingly readable style. He's clearly seen it all and probably not shocked at anything anymore since he did have a writing career writing for Rolling Stone when both the publication and the music mattered in the days of Jimi and Janis. And I don't think he cares whether he eats lunch anymore in either Hollywood or Washington. Everyone it seems makes an appearance in this book from sinners to saints and then some. It's a tempting read and a wild ride on a souped up Harley. I think Joe knows a lot more secrets and I'd love to hear more.
Rating: 
Summary: ?????
Review: I tend to vote Republican but refuse to align myself with the Right Wing or Moral Majority. I'm the guy in the middle that the candidates are really after. I say that as any review on this book should be tempered by the politics of the reader. JE is an avowed Democrat with socialist leanings. Read his most recent book "American Animal" to verify this. So it was surprising as I read the first third of this book that after an initial bow to Clinton as the Rock & Roll Prez, one of "us", he then seems to chastise him for his fatal flaws. This part of the book is interesting, engaging, but also somewhat repetitive. I still couldn't wait to read it my allotted hour a night. But there is only so much you can talk about this subject and JE rambles on and on until he finally manages to really offend me. How? Well, I just finished his most recent book, "American Animal" an autobiography which I immensely enjoyed. Full of Hollywood stories. But reading this, I see that JE has included many of the stories I enjoyed from his autobiography in this political commentary/fantasy. So is he a writer with a message or is he just repeating his few stories to make a buck? I don't know what to make of this book, thus my title. Did I enjoy some parts? Yes. Are there some interesting stories? Yes. But there is a lot of waste. It's like wandering thru a jungle with a machete looking for your trail. When you find it, it's worth the work. So maybe the only item I can add of interest came from reading this with some years of aging. JE takes on Arianna Huffington who he spends quite a bit of time describing her history to show what a bad person she is and how she climbed to the top while stepping on other people's faces. But would JE have included these chapters in this form if he had known that within a few years she would shift sides and now disavow her right wing leanings? I think not. This is not a great book. But if you enjoy reading, maybe you will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Decent and Deplorable- in prose from the spheres.
Review: This is the truth! I never read any other of these exposes and during the majority of the media coverage of the episode that led to Clinton's impeachment- I switched to the animal planet. After reading some reviews on Amazon, I bought this book and I'm glad I did. "The Comeback Kid" takes plenty of flack from the author, but Eszterhas spares none. I like the names: The Big Kielbasa- Wilt Chamberlain, "The Bag Lady of Sleaze"- Lucienne Goldberg, the lady who got the story into the media,"Hilla the Hun," "The Night Creature"- Nixon- "The Manchurian Candidate"- McCain- "The Rat Woman,"- Linda Tripp, it goes on to the current president named, "The Crown Prince." The coarsest individual does have the funniest lines, i.e. LBJ- too much to repeat here. The few who seem to get off lightly, like Monica, and believe it or not- Barry Goldwater and Newsweek Magazine who had the story and never printed it.
Perhaps the most effective and distressing part of the book is when Eszterhas does a mini retrospective of all the things we didn't want to know,but did over the years, here are a few: Sen. Harkin blowing his nose on CNN without a handkerchief, Bush Sr. throwing up in China, Buchanon saying "Congress is an Israeli occupied territory," Bob Dylan and Elizabeth T., LBJ turning to the side and taking a whizz at an outdoor press conference, Nixon and Kissinger kneeling together and praying, Spiro Agnew, "If you've seen one city slum you've seen them all," Michael Jackson and his chimp, David Bowie and Mick Jagger. (?) Eszterhas obviously knows more and remembers more than is probably good for him, but his prose is stunning as is the manner by which he weaves the book together- even with some fiction. The author was the screenwriter for Fatal Attraction and had a relationship with Sharon Stone- who also takes some upper cuts and was rumored to have been intimate with Clinton as well. I definitely recommend reading this- for the humor and frankly, The gossip is completely consuming.
Rating:
Summary: Thank God for Joe Eszterhas!
Review: In the age of hypocrisy, defamation of character, finger-pointing, lying, manipulating, dirty tricks, and political warfare known as The Clinton Era, here is a book that tells it all. But guess what, no one can call Joe Eszterhas a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. He's as far to the left as they come, and this book details exactly why those from the left should despise Bill Clinton and everything he stood for. There's a good reason why Richard Nixon's shadow pops up throughout this narrative. Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon are so similar that it's scary. This book looks at the hope the Flower Children had in Bill Clinton when he was elected President, and then goes on to explain why he was the antithesis of what people like Eszterhas had hoped for in him. Bill Clinton's Presidency, Eszterhas argues, wasn't about any great cause other than Bill Clinton. But Eszterhas doesn't just go after Bill Clinton. Hillary, Al, W., Dole, and others all get the same treatment here. Eszterhas hates hypocrisy and here he goes after it. Unfortunately for America, there is a lot to go after.
Rating:
Summary: ¿Almost Brilliant¿
Review: Joe Eszterhas tries to do at least three things with AMERICAN RHAPSODY. The first, which he does best, is make the point as salaciously as possible that the behavior of Bill Clinton, especially (but not exclusively) with Monica Lewinski resulted in the election of George W. Bush. While this book is not about policy, the premise Eszterhas starts with is, "if Clinton was a great policy president, his behavior produced a successor who is in the process of more than reversing Clinton's achievements." Eszterhas never spells it out this way - that would be far too blunt. Instead, he subtly makes his point amidst prurience that is anything but subtle. In this respect, the book is nearly brilliant. Was Monica scandal about sex, lies and debauchery? Here's a version that's even more sleazy than the STAR REPORT. It still wasn't about those things. Were the Republicans scum? Here the Republicans were even scummier than the Democrats, who are portrayed by Eszterhas as pretty scummy. This is still beside the point. The point, I think Eszterhas was trying to make, was that the whole thing reversed all of what Clinton worked for. (Don't believe anyone who claims that this book is pro-Clinton. Eszterhas offers passing acceptance of Clinton's policy record and intentions as unimpeachable is meant as a, "So what if it is?" He's trying to make the point that even if you support Clinton's policies, the sex scandals were unforgivable - all the more so). If Eszterhas hits a high mark with his larger point, AMERICAN RHAPSODY's own excess keep it from greatness. Its excesses cannot be found in the book's dirty language, rumor-mongering and other trashy aspects. Eszterhas uses those things with more artistic merit here than he does in his movies. But Eszterhas needs an editor. He manages to stuff every idea that seemed good at the time into this overly-long book. The last 50 pages or so are particularly unnecessary, but really fat can be found throughout the book. Eszterhas other fault is his third goal, to tell the truth with fictional interludes which contrast the journalistically acceptable "true" narrative, which may or may not be believable. This is a shot at the media - Eszterhas, a fictional storyteller, is trying to show that he can get to the heart of the matter better than new-media journalists. Like the first point, there's a subtly to how Eszterhas attempts this point, but his frequent lapses into self-proclaimed fiction get old quickly. Fiction and non-fiction don't mix. Its not a device used often - and now I know why. But the best of AMERICAN RHAPSODY is worthwhile. The incident it covers is absurd, deserving of the absurdist rendition Eszterhas offers. I can imagine AMERICAN RHAPSODY enduring as an account of the Monica matter.
Rating:
Summary: An outraged wail over a breach of faith
Review: Author/screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is a child of the 60's and 70's reared, by his own admission, on a steady diet of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Curiously, his first political hero was Senator/Presidential Candidate Goldwater. Why? Because Barry told it like it was. But LBJ won and Viet Nam escalated, followed by Nixon and Watergate. The lies were endless, and Joe was disgusted. Then, in 1992, along came William Jefferson Clinton, America's first President of the rock 'n' roll generation. Eszterhas was ecstatic. Bill won't lie because "he's one of us". AMERICAN RHAPSODY is a powerful, bawdy, brilliant, full-frontal excoriation of Bill Clinton's almost-personal betrayal of the author's hopes and expectations. Because Bubba lied to America - about sex, his preoccupation with it, and his tawdry affair with the First Bimbo, Monica Lewinsky. Joe claims the bulk of the narrative is based on well-researched facts, though there's no bibliography of primary source material - a key omission, perhaps. Several of the chapters, presented in bold type, are admittedly fictitious monologues ascribed to several key players in this red, white and blue soap opera. As Eszterhas explores Bubba's promiscuity specifically, and that of Washington and Hollywood in general, the lead roles are reserved for Bill, "Willard", and Monica. The supporting cast is otherwise extensive: Hillary, Bob Dole, John McCain, James Carville, Arianna Huffington (the "Sorceress"), Matt Drudge, Linda Tripp (the "Ratwoman"), Ken Starr, Bob Packwood, Sharon Stone, Warren Beatty, Larry Flynt, and Vernon Jordan, plus cameos by Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, and a bevy of others. The author ascribes particular significance to the lasting and pernicious influence of his personal bogeyman-under-the-bed, Richard Nixon (the "Night Creature). Why this is apparently so really isn't clear. (Get over it, Joe! Nixon is dead for Chrissakes!) And the reasons for including the Huffingtons, Dole, and McCain on the playbill are particularly hazy, although Eszterhas clearly admires the take-no-prisoners honesty of both McCain and Carville. Prominent utilization is also made of the two infamous props of the piece: The Cigar and the Stained Blue Dress. Though it could've benefited from tighter editing, AMERICAN RHAPSODY is a ribald, spirited, cheeky and fun read. It may stand as one of the definitive books on the Clinton Presidency. However, don't expect it to appear on your child's high school Political Science reading list anytime soon.
Rating:
Summary: Gonzo Journalism disguised as Literature
Review: For all the hype surrounding the celebrity revelations in "American Rhapsody", its biggest shock is the excellence of its writing. This book will not languish on a shelf; the pages turn themselves as the narrative gains its thrilling, roller-coaster momentum. Form follows function: Joe Eszterhas has produced a deleriously self-indulgent read about the most self-indulgent public figures of our time. Eszterhas's language is more than bawdy, but thanks to characters like Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky and even Sharon Stone, so are the events it narrates. The minutiae of the Lewinsky scandal is made surprisingly fresh when written over with Eszterhas's super-snide commentary, as he parses the contents of the "Starr Report" to produce vivid character studies of all the players. It is soon difficult not to regard the actual historical players as mere sock-puppets, only capable of speaking freely through the mouth of Eszterhas. Eszterhas has an extraordinary gift for appearing to voice the cynical subtext behind the most famous political utterances of the 1990s. Bill Clinton is Eszterhas's alter-ego, he believes, a fellow rock-n-roller who concealed just enough of his nature to make it to the White House. Nicknaming Linda Tripp and Lucienne Goldberg "The Ratwoman" and "The Bag Lady of Sleaze", Eszterhas plumbs the Clinton years for a whole new depth of black comedy. (Indeed, given Goldberg's wealth, I'm not even sure what "The Bag Lady of Sleaze" means, strictly speaking, but this new appelation locks in with the permanence of a well-chosen middle name.) Reaching into Election 2000, Eszterhas's outrageous portrait of George W. Bush as a rattlesnake, Alpo-male version of his father is unforgettable. You will never see W. Bush the same, once you have seen "com-pay-ssionate conservative" printed as it is spoken, which is an act of startling subversiveness that none of the zillions of Campaign 2000 journalists dared to perform. A single, Texan-accented word becomes the keyhole through which we peer into W.'s "philosophy". As W. is fond of saying, perhaps we should "take him at his word". Fact or fiction, in the final analysis? Who cares, when the reading is so diverting. Eszterhas taps into some deep poetic truths yielded from his close study of the American political scene. These poetic truths are larger than those yielded from any single historical text, hewn of majestic, marble fact. In a solitary volume, Eszterhas brings us all the essentials of the politics of our time.
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