The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life

by Bill O'Reilly

Paper Book, 2000

Status

Available

Call number

973.929

Genres

General Nonfiction

Politics, Government, Law and Public Policy

Nonfiction

All Topics

History

Collection

Commentaries, Essays, Misc Stories

Publication

Crown Archetype (2000), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 224 pages

Description

Includes material on class, money, sex, media, drugs and alcohol, jobs, parents, spouses, children, celebrity, politics, race, religion, success, friendship, and other issues.

User reviews

LibraryThing member badgenome

Sort of like the show, except without the occasional interesting guest (read: Dennis Miller) or the fun of watching O'Reilly shout over somebody. It's mostly a bunch of variations on "Why, back when I was a kid...!" It is interesting to note that at this point, O'Reilly despised Al Sharpton; that

changed by the time the next book rolled out, and now he's pretty much a Factor regular.

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6 more

LibraryThing member worldsedge

Sigh, it is books like this that really challenge my desire to write at least a brief review of everything I've read. This reads like a comic book, though perhaps one gussied up to an eighth grade level of literacy. The funny thing is, I agree with O'Reilly on a great many things (though far from

everything!) but there's just nothing here. It is part biography, part rant, part morality play, and completely nothing. There were some cute anecdotes about his time in the media, and him growing up, but that's about it. I didn't hate it, but just kept wondering if there was any sort of point to all of this. And concluded there wasn't, not really.

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LibraryThing member thassler

I lean strongly toward Libertarianism and because I'm a fiscally conservative guy, I thought O'Reilly would be a decent guy to watch and read. I've learned much to my regret, that he's a complete neocon who pushes the far right, religious agenda just as agressively as the far left pushes theirs.

He's more than willing to lie, omit the truth, or just spin it wildly to his liking and to please his Republican paymasters. He's pushing a strong war mentality and he's wrong on just about any issue. I encourage you to read his material and listen to him, and then go read any 10 other pieces of journalism on the same subject. There's certainly a left slant in most media (witness the willingness to lick Hillary and Bill's boots), but he's just as far to the right. With these folks there is no middle ground, and that only means more government, more big brother, less money and power for us, and more authoritariansm. The book itself is a fairly hamfisted attempt at telling you how you should live your life and why you are wrong for not doing it his way. Nice huh?

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LibraryThing member FBerger

To be honest, I don't why the heck I read this. I must have been in an extremely masochistic mood when I checked it out from the local library. If subjecting myself to pain was my ultimate goal that afternoon, this book certainly did not disappoint. It was painful to read all the way through.

This

book is even more painful than his t.v. show. On television O'Reilly is able to mask his vast stupidity by raising his voice and screaming at everyone and everything within a two-mile radius of his anchor desk. Unfortunately for him, the "scream at them so they don't see how dumb I am" strategy cannot be employed between the covers of a book.

The most ridiculous thing in American Life is that this simpleton gets books published. Even more ridiculous . . . idiots like me who wasted their time reading it.

If you are one of these people who absolutely needs a fix of stale received-wisdom and molten-hot liberalism disguised as raging, foaming-at-the-mouth conservatism, I suggest you skip this book and get your fix of Bill "Oh, Really?" straight from the source on FOX. At least the screaming contains some element of entertainment.

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LibraryThing member kkirkhoff

Although I don't agree with all of O'Reilly views, he makes some compelling arguments. Best of all, he backs up his discussions with facts. You can debate the type of solution to a problem, but he'll have you agreeing that there IS a problem. I love his TV show (The O'Relly Factor), and his book is

written in much the same vein. This book is very easy to read. He writes about various "factors" that affect our country and it's inhabitants. His topics (chapters) include Class, Money, Sex, Media, Success, Celebrity, Politics, Race, and Religion. But by far his best chapters are the Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculous. Here he discusses specific people and minces no words in outlining why he feels they are good, bad, or completely ridiculous.

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LibraryThing member beanyncecil

Love the book and love Bill O'Reilly. He scares the pants off a lot of people, though.

LibraryThing member smichaelwilson

How do you even review books like this in 2020? Typical right-wing drivel, all anecdote and opinion with no factual documentation to back up any claims, focused on how American culture is being slowly destroyed by the evil Left. If you believe what Bill is selling, you aren't going to be dissuaded,

and if you aren't a Fox News adherent, you aren't likely to read his print version. Simplistic trash written for lazy, gullible minds. We'll do it live!!!!

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