The Undocumented Mark Steyn

With four hundred fifteen pages, sixteen sections (plus introduction and postscript), more than eighty columns (The Audacity of Grope, Did the Earth Summit Move for You? My Sahria Amour, A Town with Pity, Only the Clonely), and more puns and turn of a phrase than anyone can count, Mark Steyn continues to delight readers while raising concerns about the direction of America, western civilization, and democracy in this century. The future is not pretty, at least it will be if we continue down our current path, a path that Steyn has aptly described, cataloged and skewered for more than fifteen years. Acknowledging that this is a collection of previously published essays, going back to a Monica Lewinsky column in 1998, there is not really anything much 'new' here. That said, compiling, editing and publishing fifteen years of great writing is a great service to the late-arriving reader as well as the long-term fan. And his opening remarks on culture and politics, discussed recently with Limbaugh, add some fully realized realizations that elections matter less than the dominant culture. The politically correct have won the culture wars and reclaiming any sense of core, constitutional principles is going to be a long, difficult slog.NOTE: The October 20 release date is not accurate. Amazon shipped the book this week; I received my copy Tuesday.

Steyn is such an incredible writer and thinker. There is something for everyone in this collection. I find the earlier selections particularly interesting as Steyn's views end of being proven by time.Highly recommend for those who like to laugh, remember history and are well versed in current events so that Steyn's satire is understandable.Will not forget his ode to the Perfect XMAS nor his essay describing how to throw away a fluorescent light bulb!His knowledge of music is fantastic.... also loved his music and theatre pieces. Reading Steyn is to keep a perpetual smile on your face.

I am a devoted fan of Mark Steyn. He is my favorite guest host for Rush Limbaugh. I find his humor actually funny with a sharp with and well targeted points. And he has the ability to write insightfully on a wider range of topics than most writers. For example, read his beautiful piece on Stephen Foster in this collection. He is also a writer with enough courage to write what he believes and has faced real personal and financial peril because of the truths he is willing to tell in our dishonest age.This is a collection of his best columns and they are VERY good. The book has seventeen sections of a few to a half dozen articles each. They are not grouped or presented chronologically, but by topic. The first section is on the decadence and weakening of American Liberty and culture. The second is on the ridiculous developments in our values. The third deals with issues of culture clash in Christmas, dating, sexual mores, and guns.The fourth deals with government enforcement of bureaucratic nonsense. The fifth on the way we are militarizing our culture in order to avoid dealing with the true issue we face in terrorism, which is Militant Jihadist Islam. The sixth examines the propaganda of our cultural elite in our universities and the media. Number eight contains columns dealing with the changes and wars after 9/11. Section nine is hilarious stuff examining the way our culture ties itself in knots to accommodate and not offend Muslim sensibilities all the while offending everyone else, but we can’t admit it.Number ten looks at some articles on music and art. Section eleven looks at the changes in the way we are living our private lives to conform to these changing values. Remember, many of these articles are about Canada, Britain, and Europe, too. It is not all about America. Section twelve looks at the issues surround families, children, and sexual identity. Section thirteen presents us with some articles he wrote about show busiess figures. Number fourteen deals with comedic aspects of cultural bullies and their excesses (every color of ribbon has been used so what next?).Section fifteen deals with dying cultures such as the emptiness of the Middle East Muslim cultures after decades of conflict, corruption, and hate. The aging of Japan. And the way the cultures in the Middle East are driving out Jews, Christians, and anyone not for Militant Islam. A largely abandoned Jewish cemetery in Tangiers is the touching symbol of the issue. Chapter sixteen examines those brave enough to fight the decadence and dying of Western Culture. And the last postscript section deals with the author’s columns on topics dear to his own heart.A very worthwhile read. Enjoy!Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI

I always enjoyed hearing Mr. Steyn on the radio. His brand of wit and political satire keep my attention, no matter what the subject matter is. The book is a compilation of past writings in various publications. Some are very good; some are so-so. The basic structure is very similar to Charles Krauthammer's bit hit "Things That Matter." Both men are brilliant in their professions which is probably why liberals and progressives rarely challenge them face to face on a disputed issue.

This is a compendium of previously written pieces replete with the typical Steyn well honed wit displaying the man’s broad intellect and writer’s skill set.The words read faster than they can be absorbed, for there is so much in them. There is no squemishness whatsoever and political correctness be damned in his frontal assaults.No one would argue that Steyn is a moderate centrist, but no matter your stance on the political rainbow the man can and should be admired for not hiding in the side bushes of debate. Which is a blessing for society needs ox goring, charging at windmills, or noble knights lancing group-speak.And recently due to attacks against him Steyn has become a formidable and courageous warrior who has taken up the broad axe to protect the first amendment liberty of us all, in order that we may continue to immerse in the debate along side of him.Engrossing to read, especially knowing that that funds from the sale are going towards jamming Mann-made hockey sticks where they were never intended.

This is a collection of the Canadian born, now US based, although with British connections, journalist Mark Steyn’s articles. Clever, lively and interesting they are too.Since Mr Steyn is more North American than British, readers over here may notice cultural differences. He questions liberal pieties, which I know some people will not like, but in a sufficiently intelligent and often, but not always, light-hearted way that if you have an open mind he is surely worth reading.A few quotations from this book:“A successful businessman’s views on anything are unlikely to be sought by TV producers unless his factory closes, but if you’ve been nominated for the Booker Prize you’re apparently qualified to go on BBC2 and witter on about Eastern Europe and the Gulf War.”“It may well be that the novelist Salman Rushdie’s most enduring contribution to the English language is the introduction, for which he is indirectly responsible, of the word ‘fatwa’”“If the political culture forbids respectable politicians from raising certain issues [e.g. concerns about immigration or Islam], then the electorate will turn to unrespectable ones”(On reading an article in the Guardian newspaper that complained about ‘a middle class stranglehold on the jobs that people most want to do, - notably in politics, the media and the third sector’) his response: “When the desirable jobs are spending other people’s money, reporting on spending other people’s money and lobbying to spend other people’s money, you know society is f***ed.”“The most reliable constituency for Big Government is single mothers for whom the state is a girl’s best friend, the sugar daddy whose checks never bounce. A society in which the majority of births are out of wedlock cannot be other than a big government welfare society.”More whimsically, one of his articles included here is written as though Marilyn Monroe did not die prematurely in 1962 and imagines her as she might have been interviewed today in her old age. She is now ‘best known’ for starring in the TV series ‘Dallas’ in the 1980s. She reminisces about her sixth marriage, to Elton John, who once wrote a song for her which she persuaded him not to record, as she thought the lyrics “It seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind, never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in” were "Silly, as candles don’t cling to people; if they did they would set their shirts on fire".If this appeals to you, another American journalist and writer little known in Britain but who you might want to try is Jay Nordlinger, or even (if you can take her even more flippant and uninhibited style) Ann Coulter, although many of her articles assume a knowledge of matters mainly reported in the US news media rather than ours.Alternatively Rod Liddle in Britain has similarities to Mark Steyn but is cruder, more erratic but perhaps just a little more brilliant. However, I really like Mark Steyn as well, and hope people listen to some of his serious points.

First class. Shame he no longer writes for the Telegraph or any UK newspaper. The journalists now seem to be young under informed and less educated.

Great book from great author.

I wish he were still writing for telegraph

My only disappointment with this book is that I was expecting something more contemporary than a rerun of old "greatest hits" columns. At the same time, when half the columns are gold and some by themselves are worth the price of the book, it's hard to be too disappointed.