Who is this guy and why are people listening?Forget Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity—Glenn Beck is the Right’s new media darling and the unofficial leader of the conservative grassroots. Lampooned by the Left and Lionized by the far Right, his bluster-and-tears brand of political commentary has commandeered attention on both sides of the aisle.
Glenn Beck has emerged over the last decade as a unique and bizarre conservative icon for the new century. He encourages his listeners to embrace a cynical paranoia that slides easily into a fantasyland filled with enemies that do not exist and solutions that are incoherent, at best. Since the election of President Barack Obama, Beck’s bombastic, conspiratorial, and often viciously personal approach to political combat has made him one of the most controversial figures in the history of American broadcasting.
In Common Nonsense, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik explores Beck's strange brew of ratings lust, boundless ego, conspiratorial hard-right politics, and gimmicky morning-radio entertainment chops.
<ul>
<li>Separates the facts from the fiction, following Beck from his troubled childhood to his recent rise to the top of the conservative media heap </li>
<li>Zaitchik's recent three-part series in Salon caused so much buzz, Beck felt the need to attack it on his show </li>
<li>Based on Zaitchik's interviews with former Beck coworkers and review of countless Beck writings and television and radio shows </li>
<li>Explains why Beck is always crying, why he has so many conservative enemies, why he's driven by conspiracy theories, and why he's dangerous to the health of the republic</li>
<li>A contributing writer to Alternet, Zaitchik's reporting has appeared in the New Republic, the Nation, Salon, Wired, Reason, and the Believer
</li>
</ul>
Beck, a perverse and high-impact media spectacle, has emerged as a leader in a conservative protest movement that raises troubling questions about the future of American politics.

Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance

Zaitchik, Alexander

Humor & Entertainment

Trade Paper Press

Selected as one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten picks for Politics &amp; Current Events of Fall 2016 2016 continues to be the most surreal and unpredictable election year in recent memory and this is due in large part to one Donald J. Trump and the millions of Americans who made him this year's Republican nominee for president. As Trump continues to succeed despite behavior that would cripple any other politician, whether it is questioning the patriotism of the Gold Star Khan family or banishing a baby from one of his press conferences, it is imperative to understand why so many continue to support him. And this is what makes The Gilded Rage so important; it provides insight into the forgotten Americans that continue to befuddle pundits and "experts" on CNN and FOX alike. This grippingly intimate and heart-breaking book provides a portrait of the walking wounded who make up the base of the Trump movement. Desperate and angry, these are the Americans of the vanishing industrial heartland, depressed Appalachian coal country, and the no-man's land along the Southwestern border. These are coal miners, out of work construction workers, and small business owners, who have watched their fortunes dwindle with each passing year. They have no illusions about the grandstanding billionaire and his glaring flaws. But these men and women feel forgotten and screwed over by political, corporate and media elites...and they feel that Donald Trump, despite his flamboyant demagoguery, might well be their last chance for salvation. Reminiscent of Studs Terkel's Working, with a dash of Hunter S. Thompson, Alexander Zaitchik in this important book takes us deeper into the ravaged soul of America than any other chronicler of our times. Selected as one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten picks for Politics &amp; Current Events of Fall 2016 Praise for Alexander Zaitchik's Common Sense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance: "A sharp and informative smackdown. For Zaitchik, [Glenn] Beck is just one more American con artist in the P.T. Barnum tradition, a shameless pseudoconservative bottom-feeder who will say anything to keep the spotlight on himself while the money rolls in." --Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books "A sensational book... This is a beautifully written and insightful biography--thoughtful, considered, and very intentional about the need to understand Beck both as a symbol of something larger going on in America and as a person." --Susan Gardner, Daily Kos "A scathing profile that follows the powerful pundit from a single-parent home in rural Washington state to conservative superstardom." --The Boston Globe "A great political book. Zaitchik tells [Beck's story] well and nobody has told it more soberly." --Slate "An informative study." --Sean Wilentz, The New Yorker "A gripping and thoroughly researched biography." --Joe Conason, Salon

The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump's America

History

Americas

Hot Books

Owning the Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to Covid-19 Vaccines

For readers of Bad Blood and Empire of Pain, an authoritative look at monopoly medicine from the dawn of patents through the race for COVID-19 vaccines and how the privatization of public science has prioritized profits over people\nOwning the Sun tells the story of one of the most contentious fights in human history: the battle over the legal right to produce lifesaving medicines. Medical science began as a discipline geared toward the betterment of all human life, but the merging of research with intellectual property and the rise of the pharmaceutical industry warped and eventually undermined its ethical foundations. Since World War II, federally funded research has facilitated most major medical breakthroughs, yet these drugs are often wholly controlled by price-gouging corporations with growing international ambitions. Why does the U.S. government fund the development of medical science in the name of the public only to relinquish exclusive rights to drug companies, and how does such a system impoverish us, weaken our responses to crises, and, as in the cases of AIDS and COVID-19, put the world at risk?\nOutlining how generations of public health and science advocates have attempted to hold the line against Big Pharma and their allies in government, Alexander Zaitchik's first-of-its-kind history documents the rise of privatized medicine in the United States and its subsequent globalization. From the controversial arrival of patent-wielding German drug firms in the late nineteenth century to present-day coordination between industry and philanthropic organizations—including the influential Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—that stymie international efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, Owning the Sun tells one of the most important and least understood histories of our time.

Business & Money

Biography & History

Counterpoint LLC

For readers of Bad Blood and Empire of Pain, an authoritative look at monopoly medicine from the dawn of patents through the race for COVID-19 vaccines and how the privatization of public science has prioritized profits over people Owning the Sun tells the story of one of the most contentious fights in human history: the legal right to produce lifesaving medicines. Medical science began as a discipline geared toward the betterment of all human life, but the merging of research with intellectual property and the rise of the pharmaceutical industry warped and eventually undermined its ethical foundations. Since World War II, federally funded research has facilitated most major medical breakthroughs, yet these drugs are often wholly controlled by price-gouging corporations with growing international ambitions. Why does the U.S. government fund the development of medical science in the name of the public only to relinquish exclusive rights to drug companies, and how does such a system impoverish us, weaken our responses to crises, and, as in the cases of AIDS and COVID-19, put the world at risk? Outlining how generations of public health and science advocates have attempted to hold the line against Big Pharma and their allies in government, Alexander Zaitchik's first-of-its-kind history documents the rise of privatized medicine in the United States and its subsequent globalization. From the controversial arrival of patent-wielding German drug firms in the late nineteenth century to present-day coordination between industry and philanthropic organizations--including the influential Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation--that stymie international efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, Owning the Sun tells one of the most important and least understood histories of our time.

Praise for Out of the Ooze: The Story of Dr. Thomas Price "Donald Trump is the sick showman of Washington scandal, but the meat and potatoes of personal and corporate thievery goes to Thomas Price, secretary of HHS, who has created a profit center of illness and suffering." — Willam Greider, The Nation The U.S. healthcare system is the outlier of the developed world: immoral, inefficient, expensive, and corrupt as hell. This system has survived into the present day thanks in large part to a century of organized medical-industry reaction epitomized by Dr. Tom Price, the surgeon-businessman-politician presently serving Donald Trump as the secretary of Health and Human Services. The story of this man's rise out of Atlanta's suburbs — a rise built on far-right ideology and market fundamentalism, rank greed and breathtaking cruelty — is also the story, and the ultimate condemnation, of our nation's larger failure to provide healthcare as a right to all Americans. In Out of the Ooze, journalist Alexander Zaitchik (author of Common Nonsense and The Gilded Rage) sketches the arc of Price’s career, from his days as a young flack for the American Medical Association barnstorming Georgia in opposition to the Clinton reform push of 1993; to his years on the Ways and Means Committee, when he brazenly traded $300,000 worth of healthcare-related stocks while lobbying on behalf of those same companies; to his current position at the apex of healthcare policy and GOP strategy to roll back the moderate reforms of the previous administration. The result is a taut argument for both the criminal investigation of Tom Price and a radical overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system he now oversees.

Out of the Ooze: The Story of Dr. Tom Price

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Strong Arm Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zaitchik, Alexander. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Zaitchik, Alexander

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zaitchik, Alexander. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance

The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump's America

Owning the Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to Covid-19 Vaccines

Owning the Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to Covid-19 Vaccines

Out of the Ooze: The Story of Dr. Tom Price