Essentially, it comes down to the fact that a very large portion of Americans are crazier than shithouse rats and are being led by a gang of pathological misfits, most of whom are preachers and politicians.' In 2004, at the age of 58, writer Joe Bageant sensed that the internet could give him editorial freedom. Without having to deal with gatekeepers, he began writing about what he was really thinking, and started submitting his essays to left-of-centre websites. Joe's essays soon gained a wide following for his forceful style, his sense of humour, and his willingness to discuss the American white underclass, a taboo topic for the mainstream media. Joe called himself a 'redneck socialist', and he initially thought most of his readers would be very much like himself - working class from the southern section of the USA. So he was pleasantly surprised when the emails started filling his in-box. There were indeed many letters from men about Joe's age who had also escaped rural poverty. But there were also emails from younger men and women readers, from affluent people who agreed that the political and economic system needed an overhaul, from readers in dozens of countries expressing thanks for an alternative view of American life, from working-class Americans in all parts of the country, and more than a few from elderly women who wrote to Joe to say that they respected and appreciated his writing, but 'please don't use so much profanity'. Joe Bageant died in March 2011 at the age of 64, having published 89 essays online. The 25 essays presented in Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball have been selected by Ken Smith, who managed Joe's website and disseminated his work to the wider media and to Joe's dedicated fans and followers. 'One of the great American writers of his generation.' - Charles Firth 'Bageant must be one of only a handful of people who can provide and understanding of what America's redneck underclass is thinking. The mix of storytelling and political commentary is superb.' - The Daily Telegraph 'Bageant may write like a dream but he hasn't forgotten where he came from . . . Cutting through the corporatist film-flam, he describes just what trouble America is in.' - The Australian Financial Review Magazine
This book is righteous, self-righteous, exhilarating, and aggravating. By God, it's a raging, hilarious, and profane love song to the great American redneck.' SHERMAN ALEXIE A RAUCOUS, TRUTH-TELLING LOOK AT THE WHITE WORKING POOR-AND WHY THEY HATE LIBERALISM When Joe Bageant returned to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia, he rediscovered his redneck roots: 'the great beery, NASCAR-loving, church-going, gun-owning America that has never set foot in a Starbucks'. But he soon realised that these were the very people who had carried George W. Bush to victory. This seemed ironic, because Winchester, like countless American small towns, was fast becoming the bedrock of a permanent underclass - a white ghetto of the working poor in which two in five people do not finish high school, nearly everyone over fifty has serious health problems and little or no health care, and credit ratings are virtually nonexistent. What it adds up to, Bageant argues, is an unacknowledged, American class war from which alcohol, overeating, and Jesus are the preferred avenues of escape. Deer Hunting with Jesus is a raucous mix of storytelling and political commentary. Bageant delivers a dose of redneck reality, describing 'white trashonomics' (mortgage and credit-card rackets that saddle the working poor with debt), the ubiquitous gun culture, factory jobs that are constantly on the verge of being outsourced, and the heady blend of Scots Irish culture with the blinkered 'magical thinking' of the Christian right. By turns brutal, tender, incendiary, and seriously funny, Deer Hunting with Jesus is a potent antidote to what Bageant dubs 'the American hologram'- the televised, corporatised, virtual reality that distracts us from the insidious realities of American life.
Years before Hillbilly Elegy and White Trash, a raucous, truth-telling look at the white working poor -- and why they have learned to hate liberalism. What it adds up to, he asserts, is an unacknowledged class war. By turns tender, incendiary, and seriously funny, this book is a call to arms for fellow progressives with little real understanding of "the great beery, NASCAR-loving, church-going, gun-owning America that has never set foot in a Starbucks." Deer Hunting with Jesus is Joe Bageant’s report on what he learned when he moved back to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Like countless American small towns, it is fast becoming the bedrock of a permanent underclass. Two in five of the people in his old neighborhood do not have high school diplomas or health care. Alcohol, overeating, and Jesus are the preferred avenues of escape. He writes of: • His childhood friends who work at factory jobs that are constantly on the verge of being outsourced • The mortgage and credit card rackets that saddle the working poor with debt • The ubiquitous gun culture—and why the left doesn’ t get it • Scots Irish culture and how it played out in the young life of Lynddie England
The physicists who bombarded uranium atoms with neutrons made an unexpected discovery. Those atoms split and emitted more neutrons, enough to sustain a chain reaction. This sensational finding, which led to the atomic bomb, caused huge excitement among the scientists. They were like a stirred-up anthill. My story has little to do with science, but it does involve an unexpected discovery. Every human is a pilgrim passing through the world. Where are we going? Is death the final act, or is there more? I wanted answers. We all do. The decade I spent as an atheist gave me some answers, but they were mere assertions without evidence. So I explored the marketplace of ideas. There I found an unexpected treasure. It was the most tremendous thing that ever happened to me.
With nearly one and a half million copies of their trailblazing books in print, the "dumb-namic" duo strikes again with this official script book to their first-ever motion picture, coming in December from Paramount. Complete with original flip art and a special color photo insert, this book will have Beavis & Butt-head fans reading between the lines to get into the act with their favorite pair as they embark on their latest adventure.
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