America (The Book)
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America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (ISBN 0-446-53268-1) is a 2004 humor book written and edited by Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, David Javerbaum, and other writers of The Daily Show. Karlin is the show's executive producer and Javerbaum its head writer. The book is written as a parody of a U.S. high school civics textbook, complete with study guides, questions, and class exercises. Its inside front cover is even "stamped" with a template (familiar to any student of American public schools) with the heading "THIS BOOK IS THE PROPERTY OF" and lines within a section marked "ISSUED TO" where the reader could write his or her name, the year, and the condition of the book when issued and when returned. The stamp also added, "We are fully aware that Dick Hertz, I.P. Freely and Heywood Jablome are not real people, so please exclude them." Also included are scholarly "Were You Aware?" boxes, one of which explains that "Did You Know" belongs to "a rival publisher". The book even provides discussion questions to mock history study guide books, with ridiculous questions such as: "Would you rather be a king or slave? Why or why not?" It pokes fun at the American political system and its flaws, including as a "class activity" the suggestion to "Disenfranchise a black student", and includes a chapter caricaturing American views of the rest of the world.
Appearing shortly before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the book includes several pages of an "Election Guide" making fun of both candidates. Printings of the book made after the elections do not have this insert. Publishers Weekly (PW) chose it as its "Book of the Year"; it noted that "in a year defined by political polemics, it seems fitting that PW's Book of the Year be one in which the authors survey the entire political system and laugh." The audio book version won the Grammy Award in 2005 for "Best Comedy Album." It was also raved as "no other book has been more politically erect." The book, published in September 2004, remained a best seller even after the election.
In addition to America (The Audiobook), it has also spun-off into America (The Calendar). A paperback version was recently released as a "Teacher's Edition," featuring a revised set of Supreme Court Justices (including Samuel Alito and John Roberts, who were appointed after the book's publication), and "fact checking" by a "real scholar," with red marks and annoyed messages appearing throughout questioning the validity of the book's assertions.
Contents |
[edit] Controversy
In Chapter 5, America (the Book) contains obviously-doctored photographs with the heads of (at the time) current U.S. Supreme Court justices superimposed on appropriately aged naked bodies (taken from photos on a nudist website). An adjacent page invites the reader to cover each justice with a cutout of his or her robe to "restore their dignity." Some organizations found the images offensive and refused to carry the book. In a USA Today article, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman is quoted as saying the retailer canceled its order for America (the Book) because it "felt a majority of our customers would not be comfortable with the image". (It should be noted that on the back of the Teachers Edition, a quote that is said to be from Wal-Mart reads "Even better on second banning!") Some Mississippi public libraries removed the book from their shelves; the ban (which was mentioned on The Daily Show: "… there are libraries in Mississippi?!") was lifted the day after its issue because the library board had received numerous complaints.
Cartoonist Bruce Tinsley's objection to the book's Mallard Fillmore parody, one of several parodies of political cartoons, found its way into the comic's July 5-8, 2005, editions, in which the title character argues that Jon Stewart "tried to deceive people into thinking" that the book's phony Fillmore was a real one by using the strip's name in conjunction with a fictitious date (October 1, 1998).[1] Stewart retaliated in the Teacher's Edition by having the "real scholar" note that although it is not a real Mallard Fillmore strip, it has about the same level of humor.
Some Asian-American organizations criticized the book for a section called the "Color By Numbers Senate" which claimed that every US senator as of 2004 was white. In fact, Asian-Americans Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii were both senators in 2004. In addition, the Senate has had at least one non-white member ever since 1959, when Hiram Fong was elected as one of Hawaii's first two senators.
[edit] Table of Contents
- Study Guide
- Foreword: by Thomas Jefferson
- Ch. 1: Democracy Before America
- Ch. 2: The Founding of America
- Ch. 3: The President: King of Democracy
- Ch. 4: Congress: Quagmire of Freedom
- Ch. 5: The Judicial Branch: It Rules
- Ch. 6: Campaigns and Elections: America Changes the Sheets
- Ch. 7: The Media: Democracy's Guardian Angels (retitled two pages later as "The Media: Democracy's Valiant Vulgarians")
- Ch. 8: The Future of Democracy: Four Score and Seven Years from Now
- Ch. 9: The Rest of the World: International House of Horrors
- Afterword
- Acknowledgments
- Credits
- Election 2004 (bonus section not listed in Table of Contents and not included in post-election printings)
[edit] Trivia
- In Mexico, intellectual Denise Dresser co-wrote with Jorge Volpi "Mexico, lo que todo ciudadano quisiera (no) saber de su patria"[2] (Mexico, what every citizen would like (not) to know about his homeland"). The book is heavily based on Stewart's book. Jon Stewart is thanked in the book "for giving the authors the idea".
- The eagle on the cover of the book was a live bird, not stuffed. This was done because live eagles are easier to come across than stuffed ones. Alternate photos included in the book, however, reveal that the bird was not, in fact, a bald eagle, but an eagle with a dark head (most likely a golden eagle), photoshopped to make its head appear white.
[edit] References
- ^ http://jewishworldreview.com/strips/mallard/2000/mallard070505.asp
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/Mexico-ciudadano-quisiera-saber-patria/dp/9707704012/sr=11-1/qid=1162971589/ref=sr_11_1/102-3859719-3538557
[edit] External links
- America: The Book ISBN 0-446-53268-1
- Behind the robes, Stewart finds controversy, from USA Today
| Hosts: | Craig Kilborn • Jon Stewart |
|---|---|
| People: | Correspondents • Guests • Notable guests |
| Special series: | Indecision 2000 • Indecision 2004 • Midwest Midterm Midtacular: Battlefield Ohio |
| Spin-offs: | The Colbert Report • Red State Diaries |
| Other: | America (The Book) • Awards • Recurring elements |
