Schwarzenegger Syndrome: Politics and Celebrity in the Age of Contempt

From the California recall circus, in which Gary Coleman, Larry Flynt, and Arianna Huffington vied with over one hundred other candidates to replace a supposedly inept governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger emerged triumphant. How did this onetime bodybuilding champion and gay pinup, with no political experience and a string of mediocre action movies to his name, come to take over the world's fifth-largest economy?

In The Schwarzenegger Syndrome, celebrated journalist and novelist Gary Indiana make...