*'So I don't really know why the Republicans are talking about 'family values' when families can't get good value on anything anymore.'įYI: Amazon. Wish there were an audiobook version read by the author. Recommended to thoughtful readers looking for a jaded examination of recent history, leavened with bitter humour and occasional flights of fancy. It just might obviate the need for the National Endowment for the Arts. I did find the idea of 'culture stamps' intriguing - similar to of food stamps: those who can demonstrate a need for art get these stamps, redeemable at any valid cultural event and just as food stamps can't be used to buy junk food, the culture stamps can't be used for cable TV or at movieplexes.

Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio. This book has gotten me interested in finding out more about Constantine Brancusi and a book called The New Americans by Al Santoli, so we'll see what becomes of that. Item 217138 Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio. I think I prefer Road Scholar over this collection for the same reason - I enjoy his observations about America the Country vs.

I enjoyed the essays on New Orleans and other places more than the political or sociological ones, as they were not so much on the left-leaning, pessimistic side. In that respect, it reads like a series of snapshots, most in a stark, grainy black and white. something we've almost forgotten about 10 years later. I'm afraid a chunk of this collection of essays is rather dated compiled in 1994, he discusses the Reagan and Bush I legacies (albeit with several eerie present-day coincidences - see 'Family Values* ') and the Bosnia conflict. Andrei Codrescu (is the editor of Exquisite Corpse: A Journal of Books & Ideas (in Romania, Codrescu immigrated to the United States in 1966. Included here are 'Seven Embryos for Seven Lawyers,' 'Dali in Vegas,' 'Culture Vultures and Casserole Widows,' and other classics. These large subjects-along with lively riffs on dozens of topics, both timely and timeless, both everyday and strange-are treated with Codrescu's inimitable wit, insight, and candor. The essays in Zombification (all taken from this poet's popular commentaries for NPR) were broadcast during the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period that witnessed the collapse of Communism, radical changes in American politics and society, and the birth of new nations. Never at a loss for a trenchant comment or off-beat imagery, National Public Radio's Andrei Codrescu has long been considered an eloquent if often sardonic expert on the absurdities of American culture. The worst part about zombies raging unchecked is the slow paralysis they induce in people who aren't quite zombies yet.' It was gradual for a while, a few zombies here and there, mostly in high office, where being a corpse in a suit was de rigueur.

Zombification by Andrei Codrescu