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Soulless: Ann Coulter and the Right-Wing Church of Hate | 
enlarge | Author: Susan Estrich Publisher: Regan Books Category: Book
List Price: $24.95 Buy New: $3.55 You Save: $21.40 (86%)
New (6) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $2.86
Rating: 66 reviews Sales Rank: 1022598
Format: Bargain Price Media: Hardcover Pages: 272 Number Of Items: 1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9 Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.52092 ASIN: B000QW7QCM
Publication Date: October 10, 2006 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description "A word to those of you out there who have yet to be offended by something I have written or said: Please be patient. I am working as fast as I can." -Ann Coulter, 2006 Is she ever! Ever since the publication of her Clinton-bashing debut, High Crimes and Misdemeanors, right-wing fire-brand Ann Coulter has made herself one of the most talked-about figures in contemporary American life--and has done so by issuing a near-continuous barrage of insult and invective, which has been described as "shameless," "cruel," "shrill, bombastic, and mean-spirited," "grossly inappropriate," "hate speech." She has called the 9/11 widows "witches" and "harpies," referred to Muslims as "ragheads," called Al Gore a "total fag," and said that both New York Times editor Bill Keller and antiwar congressman Jack Murtha deserved to die. Yet with each new statement--and each new book launch--Coulter somehow manages to co-opt the media as a megaphone for her attacks, while emerging from the backlash miraculously unscathed. Until now. With Soulless, political commentator Susan Estrich takes on Ann and the "Coulter culture" she has created, exposing how the pundit provocatrice has downgraded our political discourse with her irresponsible rhetoric, personal attacks, and slanderous asides. Trawling through Coulter's history of often-violent public statements, Estrich asks which are more cynical: the pundit and her headline-grabbing drive-by character assassinations, or the networks who happily bring her back for more. Soulless also casts a light on "the Anns," wannabes like Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck, whose imitation Coulterisms coarsen our culture with every passing news cycle. And, most important, she challenges us--the readers, the voters--to remember that behind the huckster's rhetoric lurks a dangerous reactionary whose real agenda is wildly out of step with the American public. As Estrich says, "She knows exactly what she is doing. And she is scary as hell because of it."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...
Sleepless June 19, 2009 G. Pettijohn (USA) I started reading this book late at night, with a steady hand, and an open mind. I bought the book originally after a liberal friend of mine strongly suggested that it was a waste of time and money (He only bought it because of the hot picture of Susan on the cover in a tight black dress). I started on chapter one around 11:00 PM, and to my surprise, I found that I was dozing off after each paragraph (which is a record for me since Al Franken actually had me dozing off every two pages or so). Susan is a really nice lady. She seems bent on not offending practically everyone you can think of, and not least of which Ann Coulter. By the end of the first chapter, I had my girlfriend dress in a clonish tight black dress, and forced her at gun point to smoke a carton of Pall Mall nonfilter cigarettes. By the end of the carton, she almost sounded as irritating as Susan, but she still couldn't seem to get the whole over dramatized (Where the hell am I?) cadence thing going on. By mid chapter two, I was doing double shots of tequila with Bacardi 151 backers, while simultaneously listening to nine inch nails scratching across a blackboard at full volume in my stereo headphones...But still couldn't seem to erase Susan's voice echoing from the farthest darkest corners of my admittedly liquor imbibed brain. Late that same night, I woke up in a cold sweat, after dreaming of her singing the national anthem over a loud speaker at a game where both teams lost. I haven't been able to sleep since. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a deep dark secret in their past, that gnaws away at them like a hyena in a rusty old bear trap. If but for that one moment, you could escape the constant drone of screaming lambs in a Pakistani slaughter house...This book could well bring you some relief....in a sort of cut off your toe to stop a throbbing headache sense. For those who need stronger medicine...Perhaps google and a patient search will bring up an abridged audio copy with Susan herself narrating in harmonious sync with Helen Thomas panned far left(in a matching tight black dress), for a chilling outer limits effect.
Great book! December 18, 2008 A. Jarvis (Ancaster, On Canada) 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Finally someone stands up to this hysterical bully. Buy a copy for all your friends! I read it three times!
In This Case, "-less" Is More March 1, 2008 Winslow Bunny (Rockledge, Florida United States) 2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In the wide world of politics, everyone has their favorites - even multiple favorites. I find Susan Estrich to be a most interesting writer whether it is about politics or not, so I looked forward to reading "Soulless." As a kind of help-book for Ann Coulter, I didn't find it to be that appealing, but the points raised about Ms. Coulter's attack style and the questions raised about her literary and conversational skills were provoking. As Ms. Estrich points out quite well, Ms. Coulter's comments/controversies/insults/appraisals often turn into quotes "all about me": how they can further the career of Ms. Coulter by having people talk about the outrageousness of Ms. Coulter. And, if they can take a swipe at her political enemies, so much the better. The real driving point of the book for me, though, beyond the self-promotional abilities of Ms. Coulter, is the question of what kind of culture are we promoting on our news and entertainment shows by having someone of Ms. Coulter's ilk appear on the media when it is known that insults, fabrications and demeaning characterizations will be the order of the day? Why, when we know what to expect, do we opt to go for the lowest common denominator for our news and entertainment? (It's spelled m-o-n-e-y.) Susan Estrich has written a thought-provoking book, as she does with her newspaper columns, and the above points (and many others) have helped to make this a book worth investigating.
just the truth January 31, 2008 Drew M. (heartland, USA) 1 out of 6 found this review helpful
Ann Coulter's only real ability lies in her gift of hateful name calling, she never uses real facts in her arguments, and after a close look I'm sure that she has a man's adam apple.
Estrich reactionary book January 3, 2008 TJ Anderson (Denver, Co) 5 out of 12 found this review helpful
Coulter has brought syllogism to an art form. It is sad that Estrich misses the subtlety of much of Coulter's style. Perhaps Estrich does not know the meaning of syllogism. Estrich has indeed put herself in the mold of Al Franken. Her sophomoric book is purely a reaction to Ann Coulter. Estrich like many of Coulter's detractor's constantly take her out of context and misquote her. I am surprised that Estrich would be this shallow.
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