Rating: 
Summary: No conservative
Review: A couple of reviewers have called this book (and Goad) "conservative." It's anything but. For one thing, current conservatives in this country cater to the Religious Right. Goad is an atheist, or at least, irreligious-witness his chapter "Prayin' Hard." In addition, he is certainly no fan of big business; in fact, it becomes perhaps his major target in the book, even outpacing "limousine liberals" for the honor.Goad is both anti-government (which may have led some to call him conservative) and anti-business. And for the same reason: he is anti-oppression, and pro-little guy. If he holds with any political philosophy, it would be anarchy. His history chapters list the continuing oppression of poor whites and blacks alike by the combined forces of government and business. The difference between blacks and poor whites is that blacks organized and got most of their rights from the government. Poor whites have never done so. But maybe organization is not their strong suit. Blacks have made us conscious of the manifest injustices done them by both slavery and segregation. Poor whites have never made us conscious of the injustices done them. Even before reading this book, I recoiled at the phrase "trailer trash." For one thing, I've seen double-wides I wouldn't mind living in. And I've know several good people who live in trailers (mobile homes). I agree with one reviewer here that Goad should have dealt with Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH, with its sympathetic treatment of Okie tenant farmers and sharecroppers. And then there's the sympathetic treatment of backwoods prophets and evangelists in Flannery O'Connor's works like THE VIOLENT BEAR IT AWAY-all the more remarkable because O'Connor is a Catholic. And also the works of Ellen Glasgow, And a novel THE TIME OF MAN (whose author I forget). One point Goad makes is "The working class doesn't write a lot of history books. The working class doesn't produce many movies or radio shows. The working class doesn't tend to hire media consultants or theatrical agents. The working class has played an itty-bitty role in fashioning its popular image." Maybe this is the real silent majority. Another point he makes is that the combined force of black poor and white poor would constitute a powerful bloc in national politics (but it probably won't happen). Basically, Goad deals with people whom others say are lacking in ambition. That is, they don't feel compelled to get ahead at any cost. But if they just want to work and live a decent life, isn't that enough?
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and Explosive
Review: A brilliant book that was the unfortunate victim of privishing. Buy it and you'll see why it was buried...
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Most Enlightening Books of All Times
Review: When I was in high school I had to sit through assemblies about black history. In college I took an entire semester of feminist studies. On the telivision I see multiculturalism thrown around as if it were a hot new religion, like scientology. It's amazing that through all of this social education, I did not know one fact about my own ancestry, my own white herritage, before I picked up The Redneck Manifesto at an inner city book store. Upon reading this book you will feel amazement first, anger second, resignation after that and then you will settle on rage. You will want to slap every liberal who tells you that you are privaledged because you are white and every conservative who talks about a "free market". Liberals will call Goad a raving conservative and conservatives will accuse him of being a Marxist, so he must be on the correct path. This book is heavily referenced, which is good, because you would not believe any of the information located between the covers of this Manifesto if Goad had not spent 10 pages at the end referencing his sources. I think that this book should be required reading, at least at Univerisity, and no American deserves to speak a word about politics until they've got the truth according to Goad. Funny, informative, enraging, 100 times better than any of the crap on the NY Times best sellers list. Read it.
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