When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden

November 4, 2002
Anybody who has seen Maher's canceled show Politically Incorrect
knows that his driving animus is the long shadow cast by the Greatest Generation during WWII, and that the war on terror has provided him with ample opportunity to elaborate on our inability to measure up—one such opportunity being this entertaining, heavily illustrated and graphically kinetic volume. Nonpartisan to a fault, Maher has a knack for leavening difficult issues with an expertly executed punch line. The government has "abdicated the role of helping citizens make connections in time of war," he says; in reaction, Maher includes dozens of WWII-style posters that he feels the government "should be making and plastering everywhere." It's no challenge to poke holes in his militant outlook, but books like this don't succeed by covering all the bases. There isn't a position Maher isn't willing to oversimplify drastically, but his logic is often compelling, as when he rails against our low taxes, our low rate of foreign aid or our addiction to oil. And he can't stand the token gesture, a prime example being our insufficiently revamped airport security. But it's easy to confuse Maher's urgency with outright alarmism, typified by the mushroom clouds he invokes, and he neglects to connect his rants about, say, the war on drugs to his argument. Maher's palpable sincerity, however, is refreshing in an age dominated by irony and cynicism. (Oct.)Forecast:Only a handful of writers possess a comparable ability to address politics in such an engaging manner, and such books tend to sell well. With heavy promo, including appearances on
The Today Show,
The Tonight Show and the
Larry King Show, expect vigorous sales for this unusual book.

December 2, 2002
Maher, host of the now-defunct TV debate show Politically Incorrect
(which many believe was canceled in response to Maher's riff on the word "cowardly" after the September 11 attacks), brings his latest series of irreverent rants to audio. As the title (inspired by a WWII poster) indicates, this time his target is our nation's role in the war on terrorism. Though he initially sounds a bit restrained, Maher soon warms to his role as reader and gives the spirited, slick and sarcastic delivery for which he's so well known. His opinions on airport security, a spoiled citizenry, empty demonstrations of patriotism and Americans' love affair with cars (which creates a dependence on oil), may dilute some political fine points, but they contain the kind of factoids ("If we increased fuel efficiency by 2.7 miles per gallon, it would eliminate our need for oil from the Persian Gulf") and commonsense logic that often get the so-called "average Joe" riled up. Fans will delight in the Maher-isms that abound here (e.g., many Muslims think of bin Laden as "Michael Jordan, Bill Gates and Batman all rolled into one"). And throughout, Maher keeps listeners in-the-now with qualifiers like "at the time this audio was recorded," befitting his reputation as an outspoken observer of current events. Several postcard reproductions of WWII-style posters created for the book are included in the packaging. Simultaneous release with the New Millennium hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 4).