Rating: 
Summary: Slouching Toward Andy Rooney
Review: Dan Savage is a much-needed voice of reason in our country, where those in power are currently whittling away at our Bill of Rights under the guise of the War on Terrorism. These rights are protected only so long as watchful citizens jealously guard them, and Dan seems to be one of the few speaking out. One hopes his message reaches well beyond the narrow demographic who can be expected to read him.Unfortunately his tone in this otherwise-important book keeps slouching toward whining, pleading and preaching to the converted -- not unlike the "conservative scolds" he keeps scolding. I lost track of how many times he invoked Krispy Kremes and Bill O'Reilly as emblematic of the nation's ills. For this and this alone he loses a star in the ratings. He'd better watch himself, lest he become the next Andy Rooney. "Did you ever wonder why it is that _____?"
Rating: 
Summary: The same from the opposite side of the coin.
Review: I am all for liberal arguments against conservative convention. It is always a kick in the pants to see the conservatives put up virtues against everything they see as a vice (and I do mean EVERYTHING). The problem though is that liberal pundits choose to pick on conservative causes rather than create causes of their own. They seem to believe that it is their duty to revile and deter the average american from believing the conservative point of view. Their argument is never based on virtue, but on the fact that the conservative viewpoint is wrong. I appreciate Dan Savage and his work in Skipping Towards Gomorrah. It is indeed a great read. But, like a typical liberal, he spends way too much time ostracizing conservatives and standing in the rafters of his journeys through most of the sins. I think I would appreciate this book more, if it came with a companion copy that followed some misconceptions of the liberal point of view towards each of the 7 deadly sins. With a two-part exposee that focused on how wrong the entire american infrastructure is regarding their beliefs on human rights and fundamental freedoms in democracy... then it would be a compelling piece of literature. Unfortunately as it stands. It is a sample of good writing wasted on a bias. It needs improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: POW! Take that virtuecrats! Smart, funny, and provocative
Review: Dan Savage has written a very funny yet thought provoking book about America and American morality. Much of the book is a travelogue, where Dan goes out and meets people pursuing happiness (which some would call sin). The point is that these people are doing what they want to and in a way that doesn't involve anyone who doesn't want to participate. The virtuecrats of the world may take offense at all of this, but our man Dan is quick to point out (often using their own words) is the hypocrisy that often goes into the criticism of others' morals and behaviors. As readers of Dan Savage's sex column know, he can be a very, very funny writer and there are definitely parts of the book (both the situations and choices of word) that will leave you howling. At the same time, it covers some various serious topics (which I guess a sex columnist does too) central to how we lead our individual lives and how our society (and in particular our government) affects our ability to lead our lives. This is a book very well worth reading, in that it will not only make you laugh, but will also make you think a lot about issues of personal liberty, tolerance, and what we should expect of our government in establishing and and enforcing laws. The book is actually quite well researched, not only in terms of what today's virtuecrats (e.g., Bill Bennett, Jerry Falwell, Dr. Laura) have to say, but what Founding Fathers may have had in mind in defining personal liberty. Liberty doesn't mean you can do anything you want (like blow up a building) but that you can do what you want in your own life in a way that does not harm others. In reading this book (along with "The Kid," his very touching book on adopting a child), I had the sense that Dan Savage is a very nice guy who would be a great neighbor, friend, or work colleague. You may not agree with some of his opinions or some ways in which he leads his own personal life, but the point of this book is who cares about other people's personal lives. The book presents a very compelling case that it is best to live and let live and to realize that we are a great an diverse country (not slouching toward Gomorrah) without pushing any one view of morality on others. A great book!
Rating:
Summary: Great fun and some great observations
Review: Thank you Mr. Savage for boldly speaking out on behalf of the sinners among us. After being repeatedly bashed by conservative pundits who feel they know what's best for us, Dan stands up for our rights to live our lives as we want to - even if that means being a sinner. Not being content just to write about it, he goes on a quest to commit every one of the seven deadly sins so he can experience it firsthand and talk with those who sin on a regular basis. He uncovers some funny stuff, but also some sad stories as well. Sad not from sinning, but from the way some are treated, even by those they go to for support. While I wish I could go on a sinning spree, I'll have to be content to read this book for now. This book talks about our basic rights and freedoms, how America was meant to be from the beginning. The author debunks and criticizes the views of the conservative pundits (and points out a few of their hypocrises), while respecting their right to pursue their own happiness - just not at everyone else's expense. Funny and thought-provoking, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing compared to his previous work
Review: I've been a fan of Dan Savage since '94 or so, and I own both of his previous books, which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, this one just isn't as good. He has the idea of becoming a pundit, but is not, actually, that much better at getting good sources for his ideas than the virtuecrats that he opposes. And, at times, he couldn't be bothered with doing any background. So the good parts of this book: The chapter about lust (where he hangs out with swingers) is very funny, and he does a good interview with a pair of swingers who are also observant Jews in their suburban Chicago home. The chapter on avarice (riverboat gambling in the midwest) shows the Dan we like to hear about: occasionally effete, but a sort-of everyman who can still get along in a dive bar in a boring Iowa town. But then there's the bad parts. Why doesn't he bother to do *any* research on Judaism when he goes to the swinger's family for Shabbat? Why didn't he bother to learn that the town he goes gambling in has nothing to recommend it *before* he goes? (Same question for the "envy" chapter, where he goes to a $500/night weight-loss spa that turns out to be cut-rate to learn how rich people live, when he could have just checked into the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, say.) The chapter about sloth is a boring pro- pot legalization polemic that feels almost like a term-paper by a high schooler who should be reminded that talking about yourself can often be really boring. Savage has, over the last few years, tried to spread out from being a sex columnist. He had an op-ed about train service in the NYT and otherwise is getting his other views heard. While I'm in favor of a broader set of opinions, I think he should be as good a researcher about the other topics he talks about as he is about sex.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointless book
Review: This book is pointless. Savage simply whines about people trying to take away his freedoms... while at the same time wanting to take away their freedoms, namely pursuit of hapiness. Savage is a lost cause...
Rating:
Summary: Congrats Dan!
Review: After seeing [the author] on the O'Reilly "Factor" on FOX, I couldn't run out fast enough to get the book! You did it again Dan...keep on going! Also recommended: Leaves of Red and Gold by Scott Chapman, a good gay lawyer fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Funny 'Gomorrah' States Case for Live and Let Live
Review: "Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America" feels like one part travelogue and one part memoir, pieces stitched together with an attack on the "virtuecrats" of the American far right. William Bennett, Robert Bork, Pat Buchanan, Dr. Laura, Jerry Falwell and Bill O'Reilly all take their turn on the chopping block as author Dan Savage traverses the country in search of hot spots where he hopes to commit each of the seven deadly sins. And he nearly succeeds. In one of the book's funniest episodes, Savage calls a prayer line that he found advertised on a Christian cable network, only to be informed that as a gay man who cannot marry, he is doomed to a life of fornication and shall never rise to adulterer status (he is reassured that "fire is fire" and he's bound for hell right alongside the adulterers). "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" is funny. Parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny, but as one would expect from Dan Savage - author of "The Kid," regular contributor to "This American Life," and editor and sex columnist for The Stranger - this book is not for the prudish. It's replete with four-letter words and anatomical descriptions that will make Mom blush, although Savage's forays uncover interesting and entirely unexpected snippets of American culture. Hoping to indulge himself in a little "Falwell-style" gluttony, Savage attends a conference sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) in San Francisco. He soon realizes that the meeting is little more than a thinly-veiled meat market. BBWs (big, beautiful women) attend primarily to try and attract an FA (fat admirer). In Las Vegas, Savage attends the annual Lifestyles Organization (LSO) convention which hosts a weekend of frolicking for more than 3,000, mostly suburban, "playcouples." He calculates that with many such groups across the country, there are more people involved in organized swinging than the entire gay male population, underlining the irony that while swinging is ignored by conservatives as a fossil from the '70s, gay marriage is blasted as an irreproachable threat to the American family. Savage begins each chapter by detailing the historical legacy of one of the seven deadly sins - greed, lust, sloth, gluttony, envy, pride and anger - pulling references from the likes of Dante and Saint Jerome on gluttony and Peraldus, a 13th-century Dominican friar, on envy. He ends each chapter with ruminations on the appeal of the sin. We gamble not because we are greedy, but because our lives are too safe and predictable. We need sloth because of increasingly hectic schedules. Savage does pull a few surprises. He points out that Osama bin Laden and Jerry Falwell harbor similar ideologies. They both hate liberated women, sexual freedom, secular culture and fundamental human rights. But then he goes on to unconditionally support the war on Afghanistan. In the chapter on pride, he offers a strong argument against gay pride, claiming that the gay community has moved far enough forward that simply being out is no longer challenging enough to merit full-fledged pride for most. In the chapter on anger, he begins with a long and eloquent gun rant, only to blow a hole the size of Texas in his argument by admitting that he intends to take up shooting, having discovered in the Lone Star State that, lo and behold, he's a natural shot. "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" conveys the strong impression that it was not written for kindred spirits but for those it attacks. Savage seems to hope that his words will reach - and irritate - his nemeses. He admits to having devoured their books, and his title itself is a play on "Slouching Towards Gomorrah" by Robert Bork. But ultimately, one has to wonder what all the fuss is about. If Bork, Bennett and Buchanan on one side, and Savage and his friends on the other, agreed to simply ignore each other, this country could be a far more quiet and peaceful place. At heart, "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" asks for just that: the freedom to live life as one see fits without having someone else's concept of morality get in the way.
Rating:
Summary: Celebrations for Sinners
Review: Skipping Towards Gomorrah is, first of all, one of the best books I've read this year. And I've read a lot of books. But few of them defend and celebrate so entertainly some of my favorite activities. Well, o.k., maybe not the swinging and the gun-slinging. And I guess I'm not much of gambler, either. But anyway, it isn't so much the individual recreations that make this book so much fun, but the thoughtful, intelligent,carefully researched, and resoundingly noisy and well-deserved slap it aims at the smug, grouchy, holier-than-thou virtucrats (Savage's word) like Dr. Laura, William Bennett, and Robert Bork who are continually trying to boss everyone around and shame them or ...them into living their lives according to others' standards of behavior--standards which are, more often than not, based on fundamentalist Christian beliefs and hypocritically un-American in their demands that people NOT pursue happiness as they see fit. In celebration of sinners everywhere, Savage has written an entertaining and enlightening tribute to the seven deadly sins (which, for you beginners out there, are lust, sloth, gluttony, greed, pride, envy, and anger) and their role in the lives of the everyday Americans who, in their pursuit of happiness, happily engage in all or some of these activities. Specifically, Savage focuses on sub-categories of the major sins, exploring in detail the lives of gamblers, swingers, pot-smokers, overeaters, spoiled wealthy people, gun-nuts, and proud homosexuals. Savage's investigation takes him around the country and into the lives of people practicing these sins, and as part of his exploration, he engages in each one of them (or at least tries to), and offers up a well-documented, carefully reasoned argument which, if it doesn't encourage the activity, at least defends the right of others to pursue it at their leisure. I can't say enough good things about Dan Savage's writing. In the hands of a less-qualified writer, this book could have been a self-indulgent romp, but in Savage's able hands, it's an intelligent defense of the most important right we have: to be happy, and to do it our own way.
Rating:
Summary: An "Instant Classic"!
Review: Libraries should be required to stock multiple copies of this book because their patrons will adore it. If you are one who laughs out loud at David Sedaris' hilarious books, or if you are one who has had enough of hypocritical Puritans dispensing useless advice (which even they do not follow in real life), this is the book for you. Dan Savage makes a remarkably convincing case for the value and NEED to simply enjoy ourselves. Behind the laugh-out-loud humor, Savage presents some very real truths which Americans desperately need to hear today. No one is spared or given the politically-correct treatment. Savage tells it like it is a-la-Dr. Phil in some of his better moments. Very refreshing, and morally sound. At last someone has some SANE ideas about why America is the way it is. Bravo to Mr. Savage! I believe any living soul with a brain will adore this book.
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