Forgive Us Our Spins: Michael Moore and the Future of the Left

By Jesse Larner

Well written, witty, and wise. Jesse Larner's book goes well beyond its brief: it helps us understand where the left has been going for the last few years, and where it might end up.
--GEORGE MONBIOT, columnist, The Guardian (UK)

"Forgive Us Our Spins is a very smart and well-researched book about the ever-controversial Michael Moore. Larner does a great job at showing why Moore's political and cultural adventures often do more damage than good. And Larner is a man of the left who doesn't make excuses for the right. A concern for decency and the quality of public discussion in this country shine through in this book--a healthy antidote to not just Michael Moore but also the intellectual clowns of the right, like Ann Coulter and Michael Savage. Let's hope Larner's voice is heard by many."
--KEVIN MATTSON, professor, Ohio University, and author of Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century

As the 2004 presidential election approached, Michael Moore repeatedly expressed confidence that his film Fahrenheit 9/11 would have a powerful impact on the outcome of that bitter contest. The talking cogs in the right-wing media machine were happy to agree with him. They foresaw that Moore and his flawed, shallow, and factually sloppy film would be major factors in motivating and energizing their base.

Left, right, or in between, everyone has an opinion about Michael Moore. His books reside on bestseller lists, his films are unfailingly controversial, and his politics range far to the left of any elected official on the national scene. So why is he the only voice capable of bringing progressive issues and ideas to public awareness? What message should the Democratic Party glean from his immense popularity? What impact will Moore and his work have on the future of the left?

In Forgive Us Our Spins, you'll meet Michael Moore as you've never seen him before. This witty, well-written critique of America's most commercially successful radical examines Moore's life and work, reveals the personal history that underlies his political passions, and takes a clear-eyed look at his controversial trouble with the facts.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny Michael Moore's political stature. Is he the champion the left has long yearned for or the kind of friend that's more dangerous than an enemy? Read Forgive Us Our Spins, then decide.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 047179306X
• ISBN13: 9780471793069
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

a book about us

Jesse Larner's book is a refreshing page-turner and (despite his occasional lapse into outright silliness over blogs) largely right on the money. It is refreshing because here is someone who believes in social justice; believes in unions; is outraged at Caterpillar because it is a union-busting company (don't hear that very often, do you?); offers the most plausible explanation of how the 2000 Election was stolen before a single voter walked into the voting booth I have ever heard--and who is outraged at Michael Moore. But this book is not really about Michael Moore. It is about us. It is about a political debate that "is couched in terms of blind ideology"; about a culture that prefers the simple, emotionally satisfying story about "good and evil" to an honest analysis (or even an assessment of our own interests). In such a political culture, when the time is right (and after the 2000 Election, 9/11, and the Iraq War the time was very right indeed), a Michael Moore, an Ann Coulter, and many, many others find a receptive audience, can become quite wealthy and can come to "represent their" side in the popular imagination, at home and abroad. And that, as Larner points out is destructive indeed. It is destructive in the first instance to "their side" but in the long-term it is destructive to the whole point of politics which is supposed to be about reasonable, pragmatic compromise. And so I highly recommend that you read this book. Not so much for what it says about Michael Moore but for what it says about us.

The Emperor's New Clothes, Again

When I saw Michael Moore's Columbine, I was made very uneasy by his manipulative use of certain scenes - for instance, his interview with Charlton Heston followed by the elaborately self-serving placement of the photo of a murdered child. And while I certainly agreed with Moore's anti-gun lobby position, I thought his `explanations' for American violence were simple-minded, to say the least. So it was with interest and a degree of relief that I read Jesse Larner's biography-cum-political commentary - a critique from the left - on Moore and the American left. I'd bet it will stimulate a lot of thinking and discussion among people hungry for a genuine approach to developing progressive American positions. Larner writes in a fluent, accessible style - and while documenting some of Moore's less savory approaches to both film-making and politics, he maintains an appreciation for Moore's strengths that's a nice counterpoint to the unsubtle and dishonest behaviour he details. Finally, the book offers thoughtful (though depressing) insights into the current position of the American left. Susan Berlin

A symptom of the problem, not the solution

FORGIVE US OUR SPINS: Michael Moore and the Future of the Left, by Jesse Larner. FIVE STARS***** No, this is not yet another demolition job by a petty critic of Michael Moore, exposing to horror his errors and contradictions with the aim of toting up his moral worth. Nor is it a hagiography of Moore as working-class hero. It is interesting to see Jesse Larner actually defending Moore from various right-wing silliness. Larner agrees with many of Michael Moore's values, perhaps more than Moore himself, because he pays close attention to how well they are served in the changing American climate. But after much research, Larner does not find Moore to be a useful or honest advocate of these values. Larner is a great story-teller, with a keen eye for telling events and humorously appalling details. Moving along through a hundred compelling and verified incidents, Moore's story unfolds with balance and perspective, and not a single trace of malice. Larner does not rub his hands with glee when he discovers that Moore is an American success story who keeps his place through calculation and a chillingly self-regarding coldness, and that his written and movie work is distinguished not only by playfulness, but by considerable lying and cheating. Up to now, when others have found inaccuracies and willful distortions in his work, Moore has brushed them off as right-wing vilification or says his movies are made to be only entertainment. But Moore makes serious claims for his work; he wants above all to be taken seriously, and Larner grants him his wish more fully than he himself could imagine. One of the book's charms is that Larner indefatigably informs himself about the subject-matter of each of Moore's movies in turn. He probably knows more about the history of Flint, Michigan than Moore does... and more about how Moore picks and chooses from it. He presents a concise and convincing analysis of the GOP's ruthless theft of the Florida vote; he gives the essence of the Second Amendment and why it does not support indiscriminate gun-toting; and he travels to San Francisco to give us the story of Moore's brief and destructive term as editor of Mother Jones--and to Crawford, Texas (where Moore did not go) to find the Texas citizens who showed "Farenheit 9/11" not far from Bush's ranch, and to explore the environment in which it was received. Larner argues that, although propaganda and demagoguery pervade the style of the right, and the major TV coverage which the rich and well-connected command, the left simply cannot afford that kind of discourse, either financially or politically. Enjoy Michael Moore's films for the pleasures they bring you, which include a look at events and personages not usually available on TV, but do not assume their absolute factuality, nor look to Moore as a democratic leader. (Moore gave his support, with angry fanfare, to Ralph Nader in 2000.) Liberals must question their leaders and look for those

A Great Piece of Americana

Jesse Larner has a great knack for describing the ebb and flow of American life, as wonderfully illustrated by his earlier book on Mount Rushmore. And who could be more American that this bigger-than-life promoter-proto-leftist-trickster-con man-sometime genius writ-large, Michael Moore, who has met his match in this highly detailed well-researched biography/polemic by Jesse Larner? Written with verve and passion, it is well worth reading.

A true page turner

An exceptional read. The author uses Michael Moore as a lens through which to identify how political dialogue has been co-opted by strident theatricality on both the right and the left. Also, a fascinating portrait of a man at odds with himself whose personal conflicts mirror those in society as a whole. A unique and important book.