I didn't finish this book. I wanted to like it but as usual, her book has a lot of snark. I don't mind listening to snark, like in a radio interview but for some reason, reading it is not enjoyable. ( )

In Demonic, Ann Coulter examines how mob mentality damages causes of social change (using the works of Gustave Le Bon as a base), her prime example being the horrors of the French Revolution. However, she then blames "liberals" for all mob thought and action, sending her argument right into the mud pit of name-calling and snide commentary.

Apparently, liberals (meaning all Democrats throughout time, because party interests apparently never shift) are the sole cause of all mob mentality in America. Republicans are reasoned and reserved, but Democrats? A bunch of angry, irrational, rabble-rousers. What makes for such a stark difference? Well, Republicans respect law and order and believe in God.

Coulter creates a fact-based argument that liberals are Godless, communist-loving heathens who want to kill your babies and force you to have premarital gay sex with as many partners as they deem fit... if by "fact-based" you mean a series of quotes from the media and certain individuals who happen to call themselves Democrat (a term, like Republican, that has lost all significant meaning over the years). Add to that tagging in the acts of every disturbed individual from John Wilkes Booth, to Charles Manson, to Timothy McVeigh (all card-carrying liberals, according to Coulter), and there you have it, Democrats are the party of Lucifer (this is actually the argument she makes in the final chapter, I'm not even kidding).

The main issue I have with this book, other than rejecting the overall premise, is that denying that conservatives (or Christians in general) are exempt from any sort of mob mentality denies that they are just as human and just as capable of being misled. Of course, that kind of admission could cost her book sales and TV appearances, so best not. Shall we note the lack of mention of the Salem Witch Trials? No mob mentality there, surely.

Reading past her attempts at vilifying the vast majority of my friends and family (liberals all) with blanket statements meant to rile her base, her main complaint seems to be with the media (but only the "Liberal Media"). If the premise of this book had been that the media can often lead to the baiting of the mob, I would wholeheartedly agree with her. I stopped following TV news because of the fearmongering engaged in almost nightly by most presenters. Unfortunately, Ms. Coulter is just as guilty of fearmongering and inciting a potential mob mentality in this very book (and numerous TV appearances) when she claims that liberals are going to destroy America and conservatives need to "overreact." (That is the final line of the book, by the way)

The real problem with this book and others like it, from either side of the aisle, is that the two party system has turned into a shouting match of "our side is better than your side, nyah, nyah, nyah." It's almost impossible to tell moderate left from right anymore and those on the fringes of each party are so crazy, nobody wants anything to do with them (unless it'll really piss off the other guys). The real solution here is to dissolve the two existing parties and start over with something new (this idea will only add fuel to Ms. Coulter's fire of a "liberal attempt to destroy the existing, working system," but c'est la vie). Actually, why not return to something old? When Washington was first elected President, there were no parties, and even when the parties did first form, the rule was that the guy with the most votes became President, runner-up was VP. Let's try that. You have to admit, it would be interesting.

Also, while both Democrats and Republicans yell at each other about who is better, they forget that Jefferson's original party was called the "Democratic-Republicans." So hey, maybe those names aren't really working the way you want them to.

I just wonder what would happen if the only side to the argument was the American side with a healthy difference of opinion intended for rigorous debate, you know, like the Founders envisioned.

Oh, and in the unlikely event of Ms. Coulter actually reading this review, and your editor is still looking for those commas, you can probably find a few extra right here in this review (I often feel I overuse them, but perhaps not). ( )

I didn't finish this book. I wanted to like it but as usual, her book has a lot of snark. I don't mind listening to snark, like in a radio interview but for some reason, reading it is not enjoyable. ( )

In a world where Republicans feel compelled to seem reasonable, acquiescing to admit ~ gasp ~ George W. Bush made a few mistakes, Ann Coulter refuses to play nice. And how refreshing it is!

In her signature fact-laden sardonic style, Ms. Coulter lays out the facts and proves that Liberals have been the violent and irascible upstarts.

Demonic is a chronology of mob action carried out by the Left. Beginning with the serial revolutions of the French, as a pale imitation of the American Revolution, she provides two chapters detailing the misguided and meandering venture of murderous mayhem in the guise of liberty. Outlining French attempts at recreating man and society, practically all its leaders were engulfed by the mobs they helped rile and executed. The next chapter is a side-by-side comparison of the reasoned and debated, transparent shedding of British monarchy from American shores.

The book is fueled by an undercurrent of French psychologist Gustave Le Bon and his seminal work, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. Le Bon's notions of mob action and mindset are applied to Ann Coulter's view of modern day Leftists and politicians. Her use of the 1896 book was so convincing, I purchased a copy for myself.

What is lamentable is that she argues Liberals are unreasonable, which only means they will not be able to see her profile of them is spot-on. ( )

Ann Coulter compares the liberal left, rather persuasively, to a mob. She makes a specially strong comparison between the modern left and the mob that enacted the French Revolution, with extensive reference to Gustave Le Bon's 1895 work "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind." ( )