Sh*tshow!

The Country's Collapsing . . . and the Ratings Are Great

By: Charlie LeDuff

Narrated by: Charlie LeDuff

A daring, firsthand, and utterly-unscripted account of crisis in America, from Ferguson to Flint to Cliven Bundy's ranch to Donald Trump's unstoppable campaign for President--at every turn, Pulitzer-prize winner and bestselling author of Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff was there

In the Fall of 2013, long before any sane person had seriously considered the possibility of a Trump presidency, Charlie LeDuff sat in the office of then-Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, and made a simple but prophetic claim: The whole country is bankrupt and on high boil. It’s a shitshow out there. No one in the bubbles of Washington, DC., New York, or Los Angles was talking about it--least of all the media. LeDuff wanted to go to the heart of the country to report what was really going on. Ailes baulked. Could the hard-living and straight-shooting LeDuff be controlled? But, then, perhaps on a whim, he agreed. And so LeDuff set out to record a TV series called, "The Americans," and, along the way, ended up bearing witness to the ever-quickening unraveling of The American Dream.

For three years, LeDuff travelled the width and breadth of the country with his team of production irregulars, ending up on the Mexican border crossing the Rio Grande on a yellow rubber kayak alongside undocumented immigrants; in the middle of Ferguson as the city burned; and watching the children of Flint get sick from undrinkable water. Racial, political, social, and economic tensions were escalating by the day. The inexorable effects of technological change and globalization were being felt more and more acutely, at the same time as wages stagnated and the price of housing, education, and healthcare went through the roof. The American people felt defeated and abandoned by their politicians, and those politicians seemed incapable of rising to the occasion. The old way of life was slipping away, replaced only by social media, part-time work, and opioid addiction.

Sh*tshow! is that true, tragic, and distinctively American story, told from the parts of the country hurting the most. A soul-baring, irreverent, and iconoclastic writer, LeDuff speaks the language of everyday Americans, and is unafraid of getting his hands dirty. He scrambles the tired-old political, social, and racial categories, taking no sides--or prisoners. Old-school, gonzo-style reporting, this is both a necessary confrontation with the darkest parts of the American psyche and a desperately-needed reminder of the country's best instincts.

Critic reviews

“Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist LeDuff delivers a crackling critique of American culture using vignettes from his years traveling across the country and talking to everyday Americans. . . . This timely portrait of America is a superb example of contemporary gonzo journalism.”—Publishers Weekly

Funny, entertaining and tells it like it is.

Tells the truth about what goes on in American politics. Every person who is struggling to live and get by should read this book along with every politician if they want to understand what is wrong in America. Good book for everyone no matter you political perspective

Knock out job!

Charlie killed it! Great book! Finally a book that accurately reflects what Americans on all sides are feeling, rather than a narrative that’s all about how one side is wrong.

Pure Entertainment

The book was wonderfully written and performed. There was an abundance of well thought out chapters and ideas.

Charlie Crushed It

I never know what to expect when an author narrates their own work. Most of the time I listen and think the author should have left it to a professional. Sometimes, I think that the author ruined their own work with a horrible performance.

Then there are times like this. Charlie LeDuff was absolutely fantastic. I sat down, thinking I'd listen to the book for just a few minutes today and pick it up again later. The next thing I know, I have listened to the entire thing with very few pauses. I cannot imagine anyone else delivering a performance like Charlie's.

I'm sure a professional narrator could have done a good job with the text and maybe have even done it justice in their own way. But the one thing that only Charlie LeDuff could do is the thing he did in spades. He gave an authentic performance.

He was manic when he needed to be manic and somber when he needed to be somber. He struck the right tone for the story he told but was always energetic.

I guess if you are super partisan or either the left or the right you will find parts of the book hard to swallow but if you are one of the numerous people who span many racial, gender, social, age and class groups who believe that all politicians fail to serve the citizenry, you will spend most of your time listening to the book and nodding along. Well, when you aren't laughing at a funny aside from Charlie.

Right on time

LeDuff hit the nail on the head, chapter after chapter. One of the few times the term fair & balanced has been used as an accurate assessment. This man revived true journalism in an effort to tell the story of what's taking place in the present day US from both points of view.