Kein Buch das einen anspornt. Guter Anfang, aber das Skript erscheint sehr schlecht umgesetzt und sehr zäh. Nicht unbedingt lesenswert. ( )

Here is a propaganda novel about propaganda. The plot revolves around the premise that the first Gulf War under Bush Sr., was conceived and developed as a war movie, with a big Hollywood producer and a famous film director in charge of the project. The story is packaged as a crime novel, with a Mickey Spillane type character—a masculine, tough, wisecracking covert security agent who becomes romantically linked with a famous and gorgeous actress—whose mission is to retrieve the memo written by a dying Lee Atwater that gave birth to the idea.

The style is witty, the plot has the required complexity and requisite twists and turns, and moreover, is very well written. I enjoyed every minute I spent with this book, savoring it like a delicious snack.

It does have some unusual traits. Third person omniscient narrative is interspersed with the first person of the hero. Also, because the book is sort of 'faction', rather than pure fiction, Beinhart has footnotes at the end of the chapters, which is strange for a novel. Some people might wonder why he didn't write a straight non-fiction book, but for me I thought the concept worked well. So reader be aware, my rating is subjective and you might not appreciate it in the smae way as I did. If you like straight crime drama, you might want to check out his Tony Cassella series, which I intend to read and rate.
(By the way, if you've seen the movie 'Wag the Dog' with Hoffman and DeNiro, it won't spoil the book for you, since, in Beinhart's reply as to whether the movie was faithful to the book, he said yes. 'They only changed the plot and the characters!' Funny coming from him, since he himself wrote the screenplay!) ( )

This book did not strike me as funny, especially after 9/11 and the following invasion of Iraq. But it was well crafted, especially for a suspicious person like myself. the film did manage a lighter tone, as far as I was concerned.
I had a 1995, Nation Press copy of the book to read. ( )

There are two parallel stories in this novel.

In one, President George Bush and Jim Baker are given an idea from a man on his deathbed. If there is ever a need to boost the President's popularity, stage a winnable war.

In the other portion of the story, a young Hollywood actress, Maggie Krebs, comes to see investigator, Joe Broz. She tells him that she was promised a part in a movie but the director disappeared. She wants Joe to find the director.

The political portion of the story is reminiscent of Capote's "In Cold Blood," the first non-fiction novel. In "American Hero" the political portion of the story is laced with footnotes and true to life characters.

As the two parts merge, we see the relationship between Joe and Maggie develop while others try to hinder Joe from finding out what happened to the director.

I enjoyed the lighthearted manner of the novel. ( )

The blurb on the inside cover of American Hero claims this novel is "the most frightening fictional exploration of war since Catch 22". In fact, this novel is more about politics than war, and US politics at that, which always seems from afar to be at the extremes of democratic reality. American Hero is though a well researched and cleverly constructed satire, and the concept is a alarming, and scarily believable: that Lee Atwater, the first President Bush's senior adviser, wrote a memo advising that the only way for Bush to secure re-election was to stage a short and successful war. As the novel would have it, a few twists and turns later and a few months later Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and the first Gulf War had begun.

Despite the political premise of the novel, at least half of it is taken up by the adventures of a private security investigator and his client, an actress, as they try and work out work out why Universal Security, a private sector security firm, is taking a serious interest in them. A series of bizarre escapades slowly sees the two threads of the book drawn together. It might not be Catch 22, but it's a good read, bouncing along in a style reminiscent of Christopher Brookmyre, no mean praise from me. ( )