false 1948003 2 <p><i>Rolling Stone </i>reporter Matt Taibbi set out for Washington in 2005 to find out how laws are made in twenty-first-century America, but soon realized there are two sides to this story: on one side, the Pit, a frivolous and isolated Congress where the laws are made; on the other, the howling madness of the rest of America, where the effects of our politics-of-the-absurd play out in real lives. <br><br>To get at this wider story, he embeds himself with other key American institutions: the military, for a darkly humorous tour of duty in Baghdad; the left-wing resistance, where he joins (and antagonizes) the comically inept 9/11 truth movement; and finally, the Church, where he immerses himself with the true believers of an apocalyptic mega-church in Texas. He weaves these disparate strands into a lacerating and painfully comic portrait of a country losing its grip, from the core of its law-making machine to the wilds of Texas and the bomb-scarred streets of Baghdad. <br><br>Perfect for an election year, and bound to provoke controversy, this is a scathingly funny, audaciously reported, and genuinely illuminating narrative of what America has become at the end of the Bush Era, from a major new voice in political journalism.</p> 1950828 6 5 2008 The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire total:550|5:127|4:243|3:154|2:23|1:3| 550 2118 1003 173 4 4 false false Sat Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 12:20:09 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 07:04:56 -0700 2008
Anyway, kudos to Matt for being an intrepid reporter. I wouldn't have wa...more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 18:39:50 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 06:51:13 -0700 2009 Rolling Stone political reporter Matt Taibbi visits two extreme sides of today's political "debate", a Christian Evangelist church in Texas and the wingnuts of the "Truth 9/11" squad, who maintain the whole Sept. ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 07:19:19 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 12:11:36 -0700 2008 The Great Derangement has the best tutorial I've seen on the actual workings of Congress. Chapter 2 describes in detail the processes of the Republican-controlled congress (prior to the 2006 elections), explaining in detail how bills are actually created and rammed through. Taibbi explains why it is...more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 06:26:55 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 07:35:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 11:48:59 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 12:02:04 -0700 2008
But Taibbi also shows a voice of his own, updating that sense of moral outrage and energetic d...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 01:13:43 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 09:12:07 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 24 12:32:16 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 12:36:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Sep 02 09:00:39 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 09:01:20 -0700 2009 After he explains...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 20:07:40 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 20:23:24 -0700 2009
The Great Derangement continues the acerbic sarcasm of Taibbi's columns and stretches them out past 200 pages. Taibbi's thesis is that the Am...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 10:25:35 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 08:23:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 12:01:59 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 12:36:32 -0700 2009 Taibbi enters interesting journalistic territory exploring the inner mechanisms of the 9/11 Truth Movement, Congress, and a southern Evangelical church. While the anecdotes of extremism prove fertile fodder for a cynic like Taibbi and provide for some humorous and mind boggling moments, the au...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 13:40:18 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 09:34:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 19:56:49 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 10:36:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 13:20:53 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 14:44:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 13:37:52 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 01:13:41 -0700 2009
He takes a long look at John Hagee's m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed May 13 15:11:54 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 15:11:54 -0700 2009 The Great Derangement, also indicates there's a lot of people out there who feel the same way. It's just that th...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 00:13:33 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 15:18:07 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Nov 25 14:16:10 -0800 2008 Mon Oct 27 06:23:54 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 25 14:16:10 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 10:48:21 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 10:55:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 11:17:26 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 11:27:53 -0700 2009 ...more...]]>