About the Book
The dollars are green. The terror level is orange. And everybody's seeing red. Welcome to Bush World.
Rich, scary, and insanely polarized, America is living through one of the wildest eras in its history. In this delicious hybrid of pop mythology and political commentary, John Powers offers an irreverent guided tour of what he dubs "Bush World"--with its terror attacks and obsession with Martha Stewart, its preemptive wars and celebrations of shopping. "Sore Winners" takes a fresh new look at the multiple personas of the Real Slim Shady, George W. Bush, the gloating Social Darwinism of shows like "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," and the right-wing triumph of Fox News and the ranting "Id Conservatives." Whether pondering our two greatest white rappers, Eminem and Donald Rumsfeld, or the amazing rise of Gubna Schwarzenegger, the book paints a freewheeling portrait of a society in which racial politics are symbolized by the "Colin and Condi Show," gay-marriage opponents battle with "Queer Eye"'s Fab Five, and religious fundamentalism is everywhere--from Mel Gibson's "Passion" to America's bogeyman, Osama bin Laden. As he charts the sometimes comic tale of the left's attempts to escape from Bush World--Michael Moore and Paul Krugman leading the charge--Powers explores the need for liberals to reclaim virtue from sanctimonious conservatives and take back the political agenda.
Witty and wide-ranging rather than narrowly political, "Sore Winners" is one of the smartest, most enjoyable books on American culture in years.
Review :
"Powers's "Sore Winners" is surreally comprehensive, laserously observant, 85 percent correct, and refreshingly unshrill."
--David Foster Wallace
"It's so hard, these days, to cut through the noise and nonsense and get it right. The polymath Powers has done it, with this grand confection of wit, insight and blazing, level-headed honesty. Delicious!"
--Ron Suskind, author of "A Hope in the Unseen" and "The Price of Loyalty
""A disturbing trip down memory lane that places the last four years in true, horrible relief. John Powers takes us into the funhouse - and then shows us a way out."
--Colson Whitehead, author of "John Henry Days" and "The Colossus of New York
""John Powers's "Sore Winners" is an angry but astonishingly good-humored and generous account of the degraded political and media culture of the Bush era. Powers has read everything, watched everything, and come out of his obsession with his sanity and sense of proportion intact. A true populist intellectual, he has a sharp eye for elitism, the cant of the powerful, and the paralyzing dullness of his own side. I can't imagine a better guide for anyone trying to get his head screwed on right and mount a free-swinging attack on the worst president and the crassest popular culture in recent American history."
--David Denby, "New Yorker" film critic and author of "American Sucker
""While reading this funny and engaging book, I felt the hair I had torn out reading David Brooks start to grow back."
--David Rees, author of "Get Your War On
""Here's a uniquely tart, perceptive, penetrating assessment of George W. Bush's unreal White House. It's taken more than three years, but American writers arefinally gaining the measure of how and why this Administration rules the way it does. John Powers gets it - and his passionate, serious, and at times hilarious book will make you wiser, even as it makes you wince at the state of the Union."
--Sean Wilentz, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Director of American Studies, Princeton University
"Powers's "Sore Winners is surreally comprehensive, laserously observant, 85 percent correct, and refreshingly unshrill."
--David Foster Wallace
"It's so hard, these days, to cut through the noise and nonsense and get it right. The polymath Powers has done it, with this grand confection of wit, insight and blazing, level-headed honesty. Delicious!"
--Ron Suskind, author of "A Hope in the Unseen and "The Price of Loyalty
"A disturbing trip down memory lane that places the last four years in true, horrible relief. John Powers takes us into the funhouse - and then shows us a way out."
--Colson Whitehead, author of "John Henry Days and "The Colossus of New York
"John Powers's "Sore Winners is an angry but astonishingly good-humored and generous account of the degraded political and media culture of the Bush era. Powers has read everything, watched everything, and come out of his obsession with his sanity and sense of proportion intact. A true populist intellectual, he has a sharp eye for elitism, the cant of the powerful, and the paralyzing dullness of his own side. I can't imagine a better guide for anyone trying to get his head screwed on right and mount a free-swinging attack on the worst president and the crassest popular culture in recent American history."
--David Denby, "New Yorker film critic and author of "American Sucker
"While reading this funny and engaging book, I felt the hair I had torn out reading David Brooks start to grow back."
--David Rees, author of "Get Your War On
"Here's a uniquely tart, perceptive, penetrating assessment of George W. Bush's unreal White House. It's taken more than three years, but American writers are finallygaining the measure of how and why this Administration rules the way it does. John Powers gets it - and his passionate, serious, and at times hilarious book will make you wiser, even as it makes you wince at the state of the Union."
--Sean Wilentz, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Director of American Studies, Princeton University
