HOMEGROWN DEMOCRAT A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America

Garrison Keillor delivers a masterful diatribe against the Republican party and narcissistic, greed-driven, mean-spirited "conservatism." He begins his jeremiad in an oddly mannered draw-ling style bordering on self-caricature, but fortunately modulates that as he goes. Worried and angry, he warns against the threat to our democracy as the heartland virtues and civil compact he grew up with, given color in stories from his life, give way to a walled, gated, class-separated state. Overall, his eloquence, humanity, and common sense make listening a pleasure. A minor, but annoying flaw: The indexing is by chapter, and the chapters are far too long to make useful divisions in an audio format. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]