Stephen Colbert New Book Review: America Again: Rebecoming the Greatness We Never Werent

Culture

Stephen Colbert's third book, America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't hits shelves Tuesday, and fans of the tongue-in-cheek pundit should be excited. Since he left The Daily Show and started The Colbert Report in 2005, Colbert has become larger than life. He's formed his own super-pac, completely invalidated the results of a Hungarian bridge-naming poll, and “nailed” everyone from Neil DeGrasse Tyson to NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson. His previous two books each topped the bestseller list, and America Again looks like it will follow suit.

Just ask the author, who reviewed his new book for GQ Magazine. Colbert writes, “America Again is a work of stunning clarity and bold vision, and it contains some of the greatest hyperbole ever written in the history of mankind.” Only Stephen Colbert could pull off reviewing his own work, and if the new book is half as funny as the review itself, it should be just as good as he says it is. Colbert has an undeniable gift for wit and wordplay which will surely be on display in this book.

Colbert also promised pictures, and I can only hope that he has the same graphic design team from the Report working on the new book. The photoshop images on his show are my favorite in all of television, beating out SNL and The Daily Show with ease. Fortunately, in a preview from last week, Colbert revealed that his commentary on controversial hydro-fracking is explained with the help of a dinosaur who farts fire, so things are looking good on that front.

As for the content, it seems like it will be similar to his first book, I am America (And So Can You!), which was basically an extension of The Colbert Report. Colbert's special brand of ironic ideology translates quite well to this longer, literary form, and the margin notes from I am America gave it a similar vibe to “The Word” segment from the Report. His second book, I am a Pole (And So Can You!) was Colbert taking a joke about celebrity-authored children's books to the extreme. It looks like America Again is a more legitimate effort. Colbert gives it, “Three thumbs up out of four stars,” and I'm inclined to agree wholeheartedly with that outrageous statement on speculation alone. I think Colbert would be proud.

America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't hits shelves on October 2.