by Jon Stewart and the Writers of The Daily Show

Warner Books, September, 2004.
Hardcover, 221 pages.
ISBN: 0446532681

In addition to being hilarious, America the Book is a well-organized and well-planned book about our country and government. After going through the standard U.S. Government textbook, students in high school should then be given this book so they really understand how our government operates. Readers of this faux textbook will learn about important subjects like democracy, voting, lobbyists, political campaigns, Halliburton, the news media and of course, C-SPAN drinking games. A well-written foreword from former President Thomas Jefferson is also provided. The book also contains the notorious nude photographs of the Supreme Court Justices, which got the book banned from Wal-Mart's shelves. (Wal-Mart's censors clearly missed the robes that you can cut out and paste on the judges photographs to restore their dignity.) If only the Daily Show staff would actually release some of the books they describe at the end of the book: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents Get Ready for the Metric System and Jon Stewart's Anthology of Public Domain Victorian Erotica. Perhaps they will at least write a sequel to the America: the Book, which offers something that's laugh-out-loud funny on every single page.

--Greg Knollenberg

America: The Book is available for purchase on Amazon.com

Note: We may receive a commission from sales made through product links in this article.

This review was published in the January-February, 2005 of The Internet Writing Journal.

Copyright © Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved.