(Originally Published 2012, Paperback Edition 271 pages)
Geeeesh, just the book's title will make many people's blood boil. Heck, I'd imagine some readers will have purchased it BECAUSE it upset them. Being a Mainer and living in New England all my life, carrying around a book with its cover being the ole stars-'n-bars isn't exactly thought of as being neighborly around these parts. No matter. It was worth enduring the pedestrians' double takes.
The book is purely a fun, very sarcastic, hypothetical exercise in why us Northerners should embrace giving the South the ole heave ho. The author stresses that he isn't Dixie bashing but it sure felt like it. Granted, he loads his argument with many stats and observations that are very consistent with other books, such as 'Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity' by James C. Cobb and 'Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War' by Tony Horwitz; both books I strongly recommend. Naturally, the book has its fair share of wingnuts such as Pastor Ernie Bishop and Ken Ham's loony Creation Museum. He covers the major topics that do make my head hurt when I think about Southern "sensibilities": religion, environmental attitudes, poverty, education, politics, race, business practices, their mindless addiction to war and the weirdest phenomenon of all the near-religious adoration of college football.
What makes Mr. Thompson's work laugh-out-loud funny is his intelligent but sophomoric presentation. However, he likes writing long, overloaded sentences as if he's channeling a Dennis Miller rant. It took a little getting used to his style. Except for the chapter about college football, which made my eyes glaze over, it is a very entertaining, yet, fruitless argument.
The book is purely a fun, very sarcastic, hypothetical exercise in why us Northerners should embrace giving the South the ole heave ho. The author stresses that he isn't Dixie bashing but it sure felt like it. Granted, he loads his argument with many stats and observations that are very consistent with other books, such as 'Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity' by James C. Cobb and 'Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War' by Tony Horwitz; both books I strongly recommend. Naturally, the book has its fair share of wingnuts such as Pastor Ernie Bishop and Ken Ham's loony Creation Museum. He covers the major topics that do make my head hurt when I think about Southern "sensibilities": religion, environmental attitudes, poverty, education, politics, race, business practices, their mindless addiction to war and the weirdest phenomenon of all the near-religious adoration of college football.
What makes Mr. Thompson's work laugh-out-loud funny is his intelligent but sophomoric presentation. However, he likes writing long, overloaded sentences as if he's channeling a Dennis Miller rant. It took a little getting used to his style. Except for the chapter about college football, which made my eyes glaze over, it is a very entertaining, yet, fruitless argument.
No comments:
Post a Comment