Comedy Central's TheDaily Show proudly touts itself as a fake news show, so
it's fitting that phony blurbs adorn this audiobook's packaging ("A Bridget
Jones's Diary for the comedic nonfiction government textbook set," says
Melissa Bank, author of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing; and "So
informative, I even found out who I was," raves Albert Gallatine, Secretary
of the Treasury from 1801.1814). The discs inside offer more deadpan wit,
as the authors trace not only the history of America, but of democracy and
humanity, all in a mere four hours. The editors and producers who handled
this audio adaptation deserve a round of applause; they managed to take
a book dependent on a wealth of charts, graphs and sidebars and translate
it into audio while still preserving the fact that the book is a parody of
a textbook. The result is a highly entertaining listen that showcases the
expert comic delivery of Stewart and his Daily Show "correspondents" Samantha
Bee, Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry and Ed Helms. Stewart narrates the bulk of
the audiobook, and the others chime in at the end of each chapter to read the
"supplemental material," which includes Discussion Questions, Classroom
Activities and sidebars on everything from how things are done differently
in Canada to why the founding fathers were "unelectable." Nifty sound effects
(like classroom bells) and well-chosen music (which consists primarily of
stately, almost pompous horn orchestrations) round out this excellent audio
package.

Download File Size:55.58 MB

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