Culture Warrior

Sometimes an author and a book are best suited to audio rather than printed pages. Bill O'Reilly's latest work is an excellent audiobook; it fits the medium like the suit of verbal armor O'Reilly dons to do battle with "secular progressives" who are trying to destroy traditional American values and institutions. O'Reilly reads his own words with passion and great pacing, using his decades of journalism and punditry to full advantage. His sometimes strong tone brings extra animation to the punchy prose but never upsets the rapid flow of his manifesto. Excellent, clear production maximizes audibility. One minor quibble--instead of hearing transcripts from jousts on O'Reilly's TV and radio shows, it would be better to hear the actual audio. T.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

July 31, 2006
In his latest screed, the host of Fox News'The O'Reilly Factor
mobilizes fellow "traditionalists" against a "secular-progressive movement" supposedly led by billionaire George Soros ("public enemy number one") and the liberal rhetorician George Lakoff. O'Reilly condemns the "erosion of societal discipline" flowing from an alleged "S-P " agenda of drug legalization, teenagers' rights, moral relativism, church-state separation, therapy instead of punishment for criminals and, above all, the "communist" freeloader's doctrine that the government should tax the rich to fund housing, health care and early-childhood education for the poor. None of this coheres well, but O'Reilly keeps fans stoked with red meat, including tales of ACLU Christmas-bashers who wanted schools to stop teaching kids to sing carols, and permissive judges who go easy on child molesters. Too often, though, he feuds with personal enemies like "smear-merchant" Al Franken, Hollywood liberals, press critics and unnamed "black-hearted websites." As a result, his populist swagger subsides into kvetching ("Clooney's press agent, a guy named Stan Rosenfield, began badmouthing me and Fox News around Hollywood") and paranoia ("S-P power-brokers... will command their forces to attack me in every way possible"). More resentful and self-pitying than feisty, O'Reilly may be suffering from battle fatigue. Photos.