I really associate this book with the lead-up to and outcome of the last presidential election, and so while I remember really enjoying this a lot at the time I read it, every time I look at it now I get a heavy, sick feeling deep in my bowels, and I kind of feel like killing myself. It makes me flash back to riding the train around for work on November 3, 2004 with one of the most soul-crushing, emotionally annihilating hangovers I've ever had in my life. I remember staring at an excerpt of Yeats's "Second Coming" hanging up on one of those little poetry-on-the-subway ads, just numbly reading the lines over and over and listening to Nina Simone singing "Oh Child" on my headphones, and periodically starting to sob.

It was a bad day and, I think, an important developmental milestone. I mean, these past four years haven't really been so bad, have they? Well, for some others, yeah, but not for me. I really felt like that was the end of the world. I also felt this profound alienation from the rest of my country that was painful but probably necessary.

Anyway, so somehow I associate this book with that time, and with seeing ole Chuck Schumer on the Daily Show a couple days later, just regurgitating the same old exhausted, embarrassing garbage -- "What the American People really want is what the Democratic Party has been offering them all along" -- and Jon Stewart practically shaking him, being like, "Don't you fucking GET it, retard??? Have you been in a COMA all week???? Obviously they DON'T!!! What are you SAYING? What is WRONG with you people????" And Schumer just being like, "Er, well, um... uh....?"

Anyway, so this book, while funny, really depresses me. Maybe I won't take it with me when I move.

Thanks to blessedly isolated geography, a can-do spirit and an indigenous population with primitive weapons and surprisingly weak immune systems, the United States has experienced consistent growth and expansion over its entire history.

Ah. 'Merica.

This book is set up like a text book. I've been years out of practice reading one, but it turns out it's like riding a bicycle when it includes naked (and I mean stark naked) Supreme Court Justice paper dolls and the essential news interviewer facial expressions demonstrated by Stephen Colbert.

In all seriousness, this is simultaneously hilarious and sad. It's hilarious because it's true. It's sad because it's true. My favorite chapter was when the press was being chewed out for not doing their damn jobs. In case there was anyone who would get too offended, it was made to be a short rant/intro that was interrupted by an apology. It packed quite the punch in both what it said and the apology that followed - as if we should always apologize for being too loud about what is right and what is wrong.

I'm afraid that much of this book would be right over the heads of those who would need it the most.

4 Stars

Timely and funny.

Brilliant satire of a broken system. Some parts are just insanely funny

Combining political analysis and witty social commentary, this faux textbook serves as an all inclusive parody guide to the history, function, and failure of American culture. This guide includes topics such as America's colonial history, bicameral legislative process, relationship to it's media and citizens, the future of the country, and naked photos of the Supreme Court Justices. This abridged history of America provides an elegant, and sometimes low brow, introspective look into our way of life.

This book was published in 2004 and features contributions from some of the "The Daily Show"'s greatest pundits including Ed Helms, Samantha Bee, and Stephen Colbert (too bad he didn't do much after leaving the show). These side essays and musings provide helpful critique and further insight into the book's central theme. Plus, there are some interjections about Canada.

Stewart had only helmed the show for a few years when the book was published. He was gaining traction as a voice of reason and critic of the major news media, but he was still a few years away from being a respected satirical juggernaut. He would continue to host "The Daily Show" for another 11 years while setting the bar for political satire and analysis much higher.

Last year, I was featured in a photography series involving people with a book that changed their life (http://www.9musesphoto.com/Photos/Pro...). I don't know what that says about me, but this was the book I chose. It had been over 12 years since I last read it at 16. Rereading, I understood a lot more and appreciated the message. It continues to be very important to me for it's critical social analysis, investigative approach, and the dick jokes. But, really the dick jokes.

A humorous and satirical look at our country, the ideals it was based on, those who founded it, and how it compares to other areas of the world.
Unless you are already an expert on America, democracy and everything pertaining to it, you will find yourself wondering whether the information contained in this book is the truth, or a joke. The answer to that question is, "yes." I had to resort to an internet search more often than I care to admit, but I found that I learned more by being prompted by my ignorance of their point than I would have from reading a dry textbook. The design is early-elementary-school-textbook, which I found quite entertaining. The "Were You Aware" margin notes were especially hilarious, as were the footnotes. It's unfortunate; however, that in order to point out distressing truths about our 'great nation' the authors were forced to resort to humor. I have long been a fan of the Daily Show because, albeit in the guise of 'comedy', they are not afraid to engage in the kind of true and necessary journalism that the 'legitimate' media seems to have let fall by the wayside. This book is an extension of that aim, and accomplishes its purpose quite well.

This book is not, in any way, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It is a good book, but it tries too hard to replicate the Daily Show. There are many good articles, but the entire book seems choppy and unrefined. This book is also out of date.

Awesome. Awesomeawesomeawesome. I loved this book. It helped that I loved "The Daily Show" before I read it, but I don't think that that is a prerequisite. Amazing, blistering satire. The teacher's edition (2nd edition, and the only form you can buy in paperback) is like 2 books in one...although sometimes I did like to ignore the teacher's comments. Sometimes they augmented the humor, but other times they definitely detracted from it.

One of the few times I enjoy the movie or tv show (in this case: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) more than the book. Took me a while appreciate the book, but there are many funny and clever parts in the book.

Back in the early days of my post-grad school struggle to find work, I found myself on Long Island splitting time between a fine wine store in Watermill and the Borders in Riverhead. The indignity of earning 7.25 an hour while checking out dozens of customers purchasing The Purpose Driven Life or Your Best Life Now at Borders with my degree cache was as bad as you can imagine. But what made it bearable was the in-store coffee shop, where I'd spend breaks munching on a bread bowl of cream of broccoli and scoring worried glances from customers as I thumbed through the Satanic Bible or snickered at this book. I even made a couple resume shopping after a latte break when I gut laughed reading Stephen Colbert's undressing of Warren G. Harding. Describing one of the country's most relatively inconsequential Presidents as a taint--yes, that taint--upon the office is worth the price alone. America is a book that other aspiring humorists can and should study and learn from.

Beneath the scathing wit, satire and facetiousness was, surprisingly, a much-needed refresher in American civics.

When a talent behind one of the best shows America has to offer writes a book, you buy it no questions asked. If you do so you are in for one hell of a ride.