America (The Book)

A parody of a high-school civics textbook, assembled by Stewart and The Daily Show’s writers, that explains American democracy by lampooning it. Complete with mock study questions, doctored photographs and a straight-faced foreword attributed to Thomas Jefferson, it walks through the founding, the branches of government, the media and elections while puncturing every bit of self-importance it finds. Beneath the jokes sits a real argument about how the system is meant to work and how far the reality strays from the civics-class ideal.