I had forgotten how much I enjoyed watching and listening to Rick Mercer on CBC television until I picked up this reprint of 130 rants and five new commentaries when I found it abandoned in the mailroom of our apartment building. Some of his adventures were silly or scary, but the weekly rants delivered in clipped sentences or phrases with biting sarcasm were always barbed and witty. They were also also great lessons in the often-forgotten minutia of recent Canadian history and political shenanigans.
In these carefully chosen rants from between 2004 and 2018, Mercer slings his sharpest arrows at what he seriously perceived to be the undemocratic, devious, and dangerous moves of Stephen Harper and company, but no politician or party escapes unscathed from his pointed criticism. His separate commentaries provide great insights into how the crew of the RMR worked.
This is a great read and an easy way to recall some of the highest and lowest points in recent Canadian politics. For those too young to have appreciated the CBC program, this and his three previous books based on the show or his equally acerbic dialogue in Talking to Americans would make great companion volumes to any course on Canadian history and culture of the era. Keep a copy of this in the rack in the guest loo. I miss his unique satire.
The Passionate Reader 