Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free

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With his razor-sharp wit and erudite reasoning, veteran journalist Charles Pierce - revered for his brilliant Esquire essays - delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the US. He explores how a country founded on intellectual philosophy has deteriorated into a nation of simpletons more apt to vote for American Idol than for an American President. But Pierce's thunderous denunciation is also a secret call to action, as he hopes that somehow, being intelligent will one day stop being a stigma.

Reviews

A raucous rant against the armies of the right. . . . Pierce is at his scathing, insightful best.
The Boston Globe

A lively and, dare I say, intelligent study of the ongoing assault on gray matter.
Stephen Amidon, The New York Observer

[A] witty and pointed indictment of our nations disturbing ability to vilify smart people and elevate chowderheads to positions of power and influence.
The Salt Lake Tribune

For a good (if painful) laugh about creationism and other bits of American lunacy, try Charles Pierces Idiot America. Its a funny, sly version of an argument made recently by Al Gore in The Assault on Reason, and by the brilliant Susan Jacoby in The Age of American Unreason.
John A. Farrell, USNews.com

There is only one Charles Pierce, and while that may be a good thing, it is also a damn good thing we have his unique combination of gonzo, erudition, fearlessness, and eloquence to help us make sense of a senseless world. I stand in awe, and appreciation.
Eric Alterman, author Why Were Liberals and When Presidents Lie

Pierce penetrates, and the world feels less idiotic already.
Roy Blount Jr., author of Alphabet Juice and Long Time Leaving

Charles Pierce takes us on a brilliant and hilarious tour of the back roads of American idiotocracy through historyskewering Atlantis-seekers, evolution deniers, jackasses, nincompoops, and right-wing know-it-alls with his trademark sledgehammer wit. Reading Pierces Idiot America, I laughed myself stupid.
Amy Dickinson, author of The Mighty Queens of Freeville

Engaging. . . . Pierce delivers a rapier-sharp rant on how the America of Franklin and Edison, Fulton and Ford has devolved into America the Uninformed.
Publishers Weekly

Theres a guy down at the end of the bar whos furiously angry, hilariously funny, and has an Irish poets talent for language. Hes been traveling the country, and hes been alternately appalled and moved by what hes found there, and, lucky you, he wants to tell you all about it. Listen.
Peter Sagal, author of The Book of Vice and host of NPRs Wait, Wait, Dont Tell Me

Author Bio

Charles P. Pierce is a staff writer for the Boston Globe Magazine, a contributing writer for Esquire, and a frequent contributor to American Prospect and Slate. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Nation, The Atlantic, and the Chicago Tribune, among other publications, and he is a regular on NPRs Wait, Wait, Dont Tell Me and Only a Game.

Visit the author's wbsite at www.charlespierce.net.