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The Great Derangement

A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire

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 A REVELATORY AND DARKLY COMIC ADVENTURE THROUGH A NATION ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN—FROM THE HALLS OF CONGRESS TO THE BASES OF BAGHDAD TO THE APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES OF THE HEARTLAND


Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi set out to describe the nature of George Bush’s America in the post-9/11 era and ended up vomiting demons in an evangelical church in Texas, riding the streets of Baghdad in an American convoy to nowhere, searching for phantom fighter jets in Congress, and falling into the rabbit hole of the 9/11 Truth Movement.
Matt discovered in his travels across the country that the resilient blue state/red state narrative of American politics had become irrelevant. A large and growing chunk of the American population was so turned off—or radicalized—by electoral chicanery, a spineless news media, and the increasingly blatant lies from our leaders (“they hate us for our freedom”) that they abandoned the political mainstream altogether. They joined what he calls The Great Derangement.
Taibbi tells the story of this new American madness by inserting himself into four defining American subcultures: The Military, where he finds himself mired in the grotesque black comedy of the American occupation of Iraq; The System, where he follows the money-slicked path of legislation in Congress; The Resistance, where he doubles as chief public antagonist and undercover member of the passionately bonkers 9/11 Truth Movement; and The Church, where he infiltrates a politically influential apocalyptic mega-ministry in Texas and enters the lives of its desperate congregants. Together these four interwoven adventures paint a portrait of a nation dangerously out of touch with reality and desperately searching for answers in all the wrong places.
Funny, smart, and a little bit heartbreaking, The Great Derangement is an audaciously reported, sobering, and illuminating portrait of America at the end of the Bush era.©2008 Matt Taibbi; (P)2008 Random House Audio Americas Corruption & Misconduct Political Science Politics & Government United States Middle East Funny War

Critic reviews

PRAISE FOR
THE GREAT DERANGEMENT

“The Great Derangement is a scabrous, hilarious vivisection of our disintegrating nation. An unstinting reporter and sensational writer, Taibbi shines a light on the corruption, absurdities, and idiot pieties of modern American politics. Beneath his cynical fury, though, are flashes of surprising compassion for the adrift, credulous souls who are taken in by it all. I loved this book.”
—Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

“Matt Taibbi is the best American journalism has to offer. As The Great Derangement shows, he has absolutely no shred of fear in confronting the corruption that plagues our government and exploring the desperation that is rising in America. And somehow, he pulls it off while making us simultaneously weep in sorrow and laugh our asses off.”
—David Sirota, author of Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government—and How We Take It Back

“Where other mainstream news sources fail, Matt Taibbi madly embraces his role as an honest political observer/writer/citizen in a democracy. I would also like to take this opportunity to ask for Matt’s hand in marriage.”
—Janeane Garofalo
All stars
Most relevant
An interesting, useful and prescient tale. Some very insightful observations about the polarisation and mistrust of the political system.
Spent too much time and effort ridiculing and mocking the church. A little OOT, even for an Atheist! The author appears to enjoy it a little too much - like a bully. While amusing at times; it was excessive unnecessary

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Taibbi is a literary star. Hilarious, insightful & an ingenious wordsmith. This book will have you laughing out loud for sure. But he lets himself down by firing buckshot at the American Truth movement. His principle narrative is about the time he spent being inducted into the world of right wing Christian theology. Interspersed with this theme are chapters about the troops in Iraq and his musings on Truthers. Strangely his writing about the people he gets to know in the Army & his new Christian pals is far more sympathetic and colourful than that which he writes about the truthers who are treated as a bunch of deluded, obnoxious cartoon characters. Why should this be?

The Truther community is as diverse as any other with many coming from respectable professional, academic backgrounds. They work extremely hard & selflessly to try and make sense of whats been going on behind the scenes. Taibbi must know this. So I wonder if Taibbi's derangement on this subject has affected his usual ability to write infectiously & sympathetically, his imagination paralysed by misgivings about his own failure to show respect & support for the people in this community who like himself want to see an America which lives up to the ideals it professes to believe in. Excellent reading by Slavin.

Funny but ...

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