Shtshow!, Charlie LeDuff
Shtshow!, Charlie LeDuff
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Sh*tshow!
The Country's Collapsing . . . and the Ratings Are Great

Author: Charlie LeDuff

Narrator: Charlie LeDuff

Unabridged: 7 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 05/22/2018


Synopsis

A daring, firsthand, and utterly-unscripted account of crisis in America, from Ferguson to Flint to Cliven Bundy's ranch to Donald Trump's unstoppable campaign for President--at every turn, Pulitzer-prize winner and bestselling author of Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff was there

In the Fall of 2013, long before any sane person had seriously considered the possibility of a Trump presidency, Charlie LeDuff sat in the office of then-Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, and made a simple but prophetic claim: The whole country is bankrupt and on high boil. It’s a shitshow out there. No one in the bubbles of Washington, DC., New York, or Los Angles was talking about it--least of all the media. LeDuff wanted to go to the heart of the country to report what was really going on. Ailes baulked. Could the hard-living and straight-shooting LeDuff be controlled? But, then, perhaps on a whim, he agreed. And so LeDuff set out to record a TV series called, "The Americans," and, along the way, ended up bearing witness to the ever-quickening unraveling of The American Dream.

For three years, LeDuff travelled the width and breadth of the country with his team of production irregulars, ending up on the Mexican border crossing the Rio Grande on a yellow rubber kayak alongside undocumented immigrants; in the middle of Ferguson as the city burned; and watching the children of Flint get sick from undrinkable water. Racial, political, social, and economic tensions were escalating by the day. The inexorable effects of technological change and globalization were being felt more and more acutely, at the same time as wages stagnated and the price of housing, education, and healthcare went through the roof. The American people felt defeated and abandoned by their politicians, and those politicians seemed incapable of rising to the occasion. The old way of life was slipping away, replaced only by social media, part-time work, and opioid addiction.

Sh*tshow! is that true, tragic, and distinctively American story, told from the parts of the country hurting the most. A soul-baring, irreverent, and iconoclastic writer, LeDuff speaks the language of everyday Americans, and is unafraid of getting his hands dirty. He scrambles the tired-old political, social, and racial categories, taking no sides--or prisoners. Old-school, gonzo-style reporting, this is both a necessary confrontation with the darkest parts of the American psyche and a desperately-needed reminder of the country's best instincts.

About The Author

Charlie LeDuff is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, formerly at the New York Times and the Detroit News, and Detroit's Fox 2 News. The author of Detroit, US Guys, and Work and Other Sins, he lives near Detroit.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Wiola Myszkowska on May 12, 2019

Szanuje LeDuffa za te książkę jeszcze bardziej niż za Detroit. Tak, pęka mu żyłka, tak, nie przebiera w słowach, jest jeszcze bardziej wkurzony. Wyraził chyba wszystkie moje frustracje związane ze współczesnymi mediami (tymi old i tymi social), ich twórcami oraz ich odbiorcami. Pokazuje jak ważna je......more

Goodreads review by David on May 08, 2018

The Insanity of Daily Life in America Reporters are privileged. They get to talk to people in the street and at their homes. No one else can do that. They get to query politicians and corporate executives. They get to talk to the actors in standoffs, protests and riots. They visit people 20 years aft......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on May 14, 2020

The American is generally poorly instructed on the history of America, not because it is especially difficult to learn, but rather, because it is difficult to hear. (p. 95) If you want to know why Donald Trump was elected in 2016, and why he may be re-elected in 2020, you have plenty of books to choo......more

Goodreads review by Maćkowy on February 13, 2022

Shitshow nie trafił mnie tak mocno, jak zrobiło Detroit. Głównie dlatego, że już wiedziałem, czego mogę się po LeDuffie spodziewać i byłem mentalnie przygotowany na nasze drugie spotkanie. Popatrzyłem sobie na reportaże, które robił dla lokalnego oddziału Foxa – warto, bo to kanwa spisanych w Shitso......more

Goodreads review by Dariusz on July 20, 2019

Stany Zjednoczone LeDuffa są dalekie od sielskości amerykańskich przedmieść pokazywanej w serialach z lat 90, przypominają bardziej zbiorowisko slumsów, obrazy znane raczej z Ameryki Południowej, jak tej Północnej. To ludzie od których odwraca się państwo, które nadal segreguje swoich obywateli, któ......more


Quotes

“Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist LeDuff delivers a crackling critique of American culture using vignettes from his years traveling across the country and talking to everyday Americans. . . . This timely portrait of America is a superb example of contemporary gonzo journalism.”—Publishers Weekly