New in Paperback: Idiot America: How Stupidity Became A Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce

I never understood the term “heartbreakingly funny” until I read Idiot America (Anchor) a book that is at once searing and loathsome and splendid. Pierce looks at many of the things that are true about America and forces us to look at them in a way we might not have before.

The books is spun around what he calls the “three great premises of Idiot America”:

• Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units
• Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough
• Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it

Not all readers will be delighted by Pierce’s devilish humor. The author leans unapologetically to the left and it’s clear in no time at all that Idiot America is not his attempt to win anyone over. Rather, one gets the idea that Pierce is standing to one side, arms akimbo, shaking his head at the madness he sees all around himself. All around us. And laughing to keep the tears away.