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Completely irreverant and totally hilarious From the staff of The Daily Show, this hysterical look at the history of democracy in America is written in the format of a textbook--not one you'd ever see in an actual classroom, of course. But just like in the "real" version, the chapters of America (The Book) are complete with pie charts (Reasons for Delcine in Participation in Democracy: 17%-Game was on), somewhat accurate timelines, fun-filled sidebars (Samantha Bee's apologetic notes about Canada are particularly funny), fact-filled "Were You Aware?" boxes ("Did You Know?" having already been taken and trademarked), and finally, both discussion questions ("If you lived in a monarchy, would you rather be the king or a slave? Why or why not?") and classroom activities ("Found a country."). It didn't take me long to realize that I was going to love this book. In fact, I laughed my way through the table of contents, or "Study Guide"--which explains what you'll learn from each chapter--but really lost it when I got to the end of Thomas Jefferson's Forward (I won't reveal the joke, just that it involves Halle Berry and TJ's...appetites). Everything about the book is funny, from the many precious one-liners to the more detailed features (one of my favorites was "The Cabinet: Yes-Men of Freedom"). Along the way, you might actually learn something about our nation's history, but I wouldn't recommend sharing this book with the kids, as unlike on Comedy Central, there is nothing to bleep out the profanity here. Like the show, however, the book's irreverance--which takes shots at both sides of the political spectrum, albeit with a decidedly liberal slant--never comes at the cost of its humor. If you are a fan of The Daily Show, this book will definitely provide additional hours of laugh-out-loud entertainment; highly recommended.