The McSweeney's Book of Politics and Musicals

June 1, 2012
Drawn from the satirical McSweeney's Internet Tendency website, this hodgepodge of humor and whimsy pokes fun at all manner of political persuasion, often in a tone reminiscent of Mad magazinethat is, mangled lyricsbut minus a tune to follow. Clearly not intended to be read from cover to cover, the book is better poked through as if surfing the Net, randomly landing here and there on pieces by regular and guest contributors to the website who, as the introduction says, decided to slum it in the land of the written word. The fact that words are also written for the web notwithstanding, one is as likely to find stinkers here as often as laugh-getters. Fragments from Bailout! The Musical makes jolly good fun of the banking industry and the stock market, while other chapters ramble on in what seems like a draft script for a cynical comedy sketch. McSweeney's is a publishing company based in San Francisco and has developed a fan base that will no doubt appreciate this addition to its daily humor website's growing list of zines and books at mcsweeneys.net.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)