Published: Reality 101 — Political Self Defense for Progressives
I’ve been away while finishing the details of this book.
But, in the face of the most idiotic headline of all time, it’s time to return to the fray:
Republicans Learn to Play Hardball
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal
It has been my intention to collect the best of ten years’ “vorpal sword” columns into a series of ebooks. Ayn Nation Under God was the first. Reality 101 is next*.
[* Coming soon: The Best of his vorpal sword — as chosen by its readers.]
Rather than “correcting” other Progressives, learn how to “correct” KKKonservatives and RepubliKlans. Just published! Just in time for the Total Solar Eclipse of the Vernal Equinox!
For ten years, ‘his vorpal sword’ (the blog) terrified the likes of Ted Nugent (“Ted Nugent fears death by ‘lunatic fringe’ liberal blogger” – Raw Story, 13 July 2007) and delighted readers of Salon, Crooks and Liars, The Democratic Daily, The Moderate Voice and much else of the moderate to progressive blogosphere.
Entire books and series were created, as history proved that its author, Hart Williams, was correct in his assessments, over and over again. From writing against the Iraq invasion in 2003 to trying to explain to Democrats why they were losing the 2014 elections, BEFORE the election, Williams’ track record is impressive: from being among the first to expose the Kochs’ national political operation and connect the dots back to David Koch’s 1980 Vice Presidential campaign, to the rise of the Neoconfederates, the Libertarian hostile takeover of the Republican party and the secret backers and media collaboration in the “Tea Party” movement, Williams has been ahead of the curve, consistently — while mainstream “pundits” have beclowned themselves over and over again.
This book is a handbook for detecting Conservative lies and propaganda—and a primer on the eminently practical question “What is real?” Following that, it shows HOW unreality is slithered into our model of the world, to create the false facts that are epidemic in politics today.
And, very often, it is very funny. With an introduction by Jane Fonda biographer Tom Collins, Reality 101—Political Self Defense for Progressives delivers real value for your reading dollar, at a per word cost that will surprise and gratify the budget-conscious reader. And it doesn’t kill any trees.
Hart Williams has been a freelance writer for nearly 40 years. His work has been cited by outlets from The Washington Post, to Salon, Raw Story, Media Matters, The Washington Monthly, The (Portland) Oregonian, The Omaha World-Herald, and many, many more.
Mr. Williams is a published novelist, a produced screenwriter, and has written for publications from The Orange County Register to the Los Angeles Free Press, the Santa Fe Sun to The Tutuveni (The Newspaper of the Hopi Tribe), New West, Oui Magazine, the Kansas City Star, PBS’investigative series NOW and many more.
He currently lives in Oregon with a wife, a cat, and an astonishing amount of pollen.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Tom Collins
Reality 101—Introduction
A Short Note on Usage
Part One • Reality
1. Reality 101 (part i)
2. Reality 101 (part ii.)
3. Reality 101 (part iii.)
Part 2 • Fantasy and Fabulism
4. Propaganda Works
5. Do Words Matter?
6. The Party Of Lincoln Revisited
7. Why the Republicans will lose the upcoming Civil War
8. How to Blow An Election You Ought to Win (part I)
9. How to Blow An Election You Ought to Win (part ii)
10. How to Blow An Election You Ought to Win (part iii)
11. Truth Is Whatever I Say It Is
Part Three • Endpixels
12. The Two Lies No Republican Can Live Without
13. Reality 101 (Epilogue)
Afterword
E-books Save Trees*
*‘I realize that physical books are wonderful things, and, while I will not eschew them (although I would suggest that the teleology of books is more important that the fetishization of same), I am putting out my works EXCLUSIVELY in electronic form, knowing that there are virtually zero wood-fueled power stations in the Western United States. That ought to be statement enough.’
Courage.
This is cross-posted from his vorpal sword (the blog).Courage.
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.