Smells Like Dead Elephants is a brilliant collection from Matt Taibbi, "a political reporter with the gonzo spirit that made Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O'Rourke so much fun" (The Washington Post). Bringing together Taibbi's most incisive and hilarious work from his "Road Work" column in Rolling Stone, Smells Like Dead Elephants shines an unflinching spotlight on the corruption, dishonesty, and sheer laziness of our leaders. Taibbi has plenty to say about George W. Bush, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, and all the rest, but he doesn't just hit inside the Beltway. He gets involved in the action, infiltrating Senator Conrad Burns's birthday party under disguise as a lobbyist for a fictional oil firm that wants to drill in the Grand Canyon. He floats into apocalyptic post-Katrina New Orleans in a dinghy with Sean Penn. He goes to Iraq as an embedded reporter, where he witnesses the mind-boggling dysfunction of our occupation and spends three nights in Abu Ghraib prison. And he reports from two of the most bizarre and telling trials in recent memory: California v. Michael Jackson and the evolution-vs.-intelligent-design trial in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Equally funny and shocking, this is excellent work from one of our most entertaining writers.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Gorgeous tales of unspeakable events:
In spite of the off-putting title, this book is a delectable collection of Taibbi's habit-forming Rolling Stone essays on politics in the Bush era. His topics range from Michael Jackson to Lynndie England to (my favorite) Tom DeLay.
He fearlessly travels to New Orleans (with Sean Penn, as it happens) to see the Katrina disaster firsthand; he gets embedded with the troops in Iraq, then dis-embeds to go inside Abu Ghraib in the company of a mercenary. He is suitably appreciative and humble in the... more info
Reader of Smells Like Dead Elephants:
I purchased the book because I enjoyed his writing in Spanking the Donkey. I enjoyed the book because I the liberaism was minimal. This book is truly partisan. I quit reading before I was 1/4 of the way as I was so bored.
Beyond Words!:
Taibbi's "Smells Like Dead Elephants" is mostly too funny to describe - especially describing Michael Jackson's trial, Bernie Sanders' efforts to pass legislation and amendments, and attending (no-longer) Senator Burns' birthday party pretending to be a lobbyist for drilling in the Grand Canyon. Then the more serious moments of Lnnydie England and her trial for Abu Gharaib abuses, and later having the guts to stay there for three days. Definitely a "Must Read."
i love this gonzo-style political humor:
allright, i read this whole thing in 2 days. mainly, i couldnt put it down because i didnt want to wait for his next hilarious observation. the new orleans story made me feel like i was there. not a lot of humor there, but probably the best story. it took balls for a hotshot from RS and a millionare actor to drive a boat around the most neglected areas of flooded NO. i hope he got an award for that piece. anyway, here are some things i remember. he travels to the sheehan protest/counter-protest in tx and... more info
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