Her best book
Of Thee I Zing, Laura Ingraham's fifth book, is a genuinely significant contribution to contemporary philosophy (ethics, aesthetics) and cultural analysis, which may come as a surprise to those who only know her from her previous books of right-wing polemics. Her 2007 book Power to the People was perhaps her most successful book in that vein, as concise a statement of far-right conservatism as I've seen, and far preferable to similar manifestos from her many peers (such as the ever-diabolical, let's-make-things-worse Ann Coulter). 2010's The Obama Diaries (so far Ingraham's most popular book) was an inspired idea, whereby she invented a Watergate-like intrigue involving herself in an epic (if fictional) leak of President Obama's diaries to her. The only problem was, this current president is about as funny a subject as Calvin Coolidge, so despite the neat premise, that book did not actually deliver the laughs it promised. With Of Thee I Zing Ingraham has her finest hour in that this is not a political book at all (a real surprise) and this time the humor really sparkles. The book is a cleverly organized and well-thought-out series of complaints about American culture as it is today, focusing on areas of daily life where our fellow citizens seem to want to wallow in their own ignorance, selfishness and narcissism. Most of Ingraham's targets are dead-on, and she seldom uses these topics as springboards for foisting more right-wing propaganda. In avoiding this temptation to belch out yet another rhetorical dinosaur, Ingraham leaps far ahead of the pack, allowing her wit to shine and to dazzle, and giving readers the opportunity to explore the various topics raised in the book without being forced to swallow any political speeches. Seen from an objective perspective, Ingraham's litany of complaints is curious in that it makes her an almost tragic figure, in that the-anything-for-a-buck capitalist ideology she has so fervently been defending all her life has delivered to her a world that she doesn't seem to like very much. Seen through this vantage point, her book is all the more significant, resembling in a sense the memoirs of dedicated communists who were greatly disappointed with the regimes of corruption that the nations of the Warsaw Pact had to offer. But rather than confront the free market causes of her cultural disappointments, she retreats to blaming individuals who have different tastes and unfortunately she focuses her rage oftentimes on women who are more sexually open, and this is where Ingraham runs into the most trouble, risking looking judgmental and stridently so (and thereby losing the sympathies of readers, who have likely been in agreement with the majority of her book's other points). Once again there is an element of tragedy here. In a chapter on relationships, Ingraham admits to being unlucky in love, and many will be surprised to learn that someone as famous, rich, whip-smart and movie-star gorgeous as Laura still has to resort to computer dating to find companionship. (Oh Laura, there is true love for you in this world - I promise you.) Despite these subjective forays away from the cultural complaints, these parts of the book are welcome in that they humanize Ingraham in ways both positive and negative, and you come away knowing more about her and what makes her tick. In fact, an autobiography ought to be her next book. Laura Ingraham is a national treasure. This from a far-left socialist!
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