This collection of essays contains a wide range of topics, all thoroughly infused with the writer’s point of view. He is decidedly anti-war, and this is manifested in a number of his essays. He is quite serious about his views on what great literature should look like. He is ambivalent about immigration issues as well as his thoughts on the Buddha Boy (a Nepali boy who supposedly mediated for nearly a year without moving or eating), playing devil’s advocate as he explores both sides of these issues. However deep his topics, thought, there is a veneer of humor cast over all the essays. Whether it is a satirical comment or a random infusion of his own humanity, the reader can examine these serious issues for him- or herself, without feeling preached to, lectured to, or plain old bored. ( )

George Saunders, whose wacky fiction about the grotesqueries of American culture (cf. Pastoralia) have garnered him such plaudits as a Genius Grant, is now so important that a publisher is happy to put out a collection of his scattered magazine work. Here it is: The Braindead Megaphone.

The title essay is all about the dumbing-down of America via the media, and is amusing enough, if a but obvious. I like Saunders best when he either gets weird or moves out of his comfort zone. He writes a letter from the point of view of a dog. He pens a proclamation in the voice of the president of Iran, using Western slang to ban the use of Western slang. He visits Dubai, meets with the guys who patrol the Mexican border in search of illegals (nicer guys than you'd think), goes to Nepal to see a boy who's reportedly meditated for seven months straight without food or water.

I'm glad I read this book, but it's not essential reading, even for Saunders fans. True, he does come up with some kernels of wit and insight, like "Humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to." But all in all, these are just occasional pieces, and one should go for Saunder's fiction.

One exception: the final piece, "Manifesto: A Press Release from PRKA." The PRKA is People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction. This little essay is like a declaration of shared humanity and Buddhist resistance. Everyone should read that.

Excellent collection of social satire and commentary. Like Borges, Twain and Vonnegut, Saunders sometimes writes satirical nonfiction that is indistinguishable from his fiction. There is some of that in this collection, but the most affecting pieces are one about the Buddha Boy of Nepal and another about the anti-illegal immigration Minutemen, while a piece about the overnight rise of Dubai and what it means is very thought-provoking. Though unapologetically liberal, Saunders is always open to other points of view and is more interested in why people believe what they believe than in labeling them right or wrong.

In his view, people's beliefs are shaped less by their individual characters than by the information to which they have access. The title's "braindead megaphone" is a metaphor for the blaring inanity of most media content, which tends to dumb down our thinking on important topics.

Not all of the essays are top notch. A couple of the more satirical numbers are a little too -- for lack of a better word -- silly to be completely effective. However, that is a minor quibble with a book that has given me many things to think about long after I read the last page. ( )

This collection of essays from George Saunders covers a wide range of territory, discussing everything from the author’s experiences visiting the Buddha Boy of Nepal to an analysis of Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Saunders sharp eye and even sharper wit come across in most all of these essays, though I think his talent is best displayed in the longer travel pieces. His humor is balanced with a good deal of heartfelt emotion when he writes about watching Arab children see snow for the first time in the surreal fairy tale of modern Dubai, and his travels along the US-Mexico border in search of greater understanding of the immigration issue reveal a world far too complex to be explained in a sound bite. The title essay, about the decline of intelligent content in mass media, is particularly spot on. Overall, a very worthwhile and entertaining read. ( )