Politics and culture, culture and politics. They've never been normal in America, but today they're weirder than ever. Millionaire populists like Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore dominate a political scene spinning ever further from the real world; meanwhile, we look to bizarre experiments like "Survivor” for our daily dose of reality.In this wonderfully acerbic tour through our increasingly unhinged culture, John Powers takes on celebrities and evangelicals, pundits and politicians, making sense of the mess for the rest of us. He shows how we have come to equate consumerism with patriotism and Fox News with objective journalism, and how our culture has become more polarized than ever even as we all shop at the same exact big-box stores. Insightful, hilarious, and critical of both liberals and conservatives, this is one of the smartest and most enjoyable books on American culture in years.

Introduction The Digital Presidency Chapter 1 The Six Faces of George W. BushChapter 2 From September 11 to 9/111: Birth of a LegendChapter 3 The Disquieting American, or The “Why Do They Hate Us?” BluesChapter 4 Idols and Survivors: Populist Social DarwinismChapter 5 Meta-Media Madness: We Distort, You DerideChapter 6 The Small Pleasures of Big-Box CultureChapter 7 Postcards from the WedgeEpilogue Escape from Bush WorldAfterword And You—And You—And You—And You Were ThereAcknowledgmentsA Select BibliographyIndex