Smells Like Dead Elephants

Dispatches from a Rotting Empire

By: Matt Taibbi

Narrated by: Peter Johnson

Smells Like Dead Elephants is a brilliant collection from Matt Taibbi, "a political reporter with the gonzo spirit that made Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O'Rourke so much fun" (The Washington Post).

Bringing together Taibbi's most incisive and hilarious work from his "Road Work" column in Rolling Stone, Smells Like Dead Elephants shines an unflinching spotlight on the corruption, dishonesty, and sheer laziness of our leaders.

Taibbi has plenty to say about George W. Bush, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, and all the rest, but he doesn't just hit inside the Beltway. He gets involved in the action, infiltrating Senator Conrad Burns' birthday party under disguise as a lobbyist for a fictional oil firm that wants to drill in the Grand Canyon. He floats into apocalyptic post-Katrina New Orleans in a dinghy with Sean Penn. He goes to Iraq as an embedded reporter, where he witnesses the mind-boggling dysfunction of our occupation and spends three nights in Abu Ghraib prison. And he reports from two of the most bizarre and telling trials in recent memory: California v. Michael Jackson and the evolution-versus-intelligent-design trial in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Equally funny and shocking, this is excellent work from one of our most entertaining writers.

©2007 Matt Taibbi. Excerpt from “The End of the World,” from Collected Poems, 1917–1982 by Archibald MacLeish. Copyright 1985 by the Estate of Archibald MacLeish. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Great synopses of our leadership woes during the Bush era.

I thoroughly enjoyed the audio book, shined a light - and brought closure to, many issues that I was not quite familiar with during the Bush years.

How the Hell Did We Get Here?

If you were wondering how we got to the Trump era, this is a quick trip down memory lane to clarify it for you. Remember Bush, Cheney, Gingrich, Rumsfeld, DeLeigh and the Iraq War? This is a distilled version of the poison Congress has been feeding us for at least 20 years.

Takes a long time to get to a point

Taibbi's books are focused on shining a light on an injustice, but this book lacks focus and the beam scatters as the narrative touches on disjoint and (at best) loosely connected aspects. Unlike his more recent books here is a discussion of culture and politics, rather than just politics, and while the two are intertwined, the focus seems off. Broadly this is because it is the culture of the people vs the politics of the governing, and although there is a point to be mad, I am not sure that Taibbi ever gets there, leaving behind a sensation like Jon Ronson's: interesting but what is your point?; and unlike Ronson where the point is the absurdity, here one wonders which aspects of the absurd world we should focus on.

Overall this title is not up to the standard of his later books, in that it deals with a deeper issue, which really is a positive, but also has not arrived at the anger that makes the more superficial works more illustrated or animated. This in turn means the title is less engaging, although really it tries for more contemplation from the audience.

Story decent but narration too fast

Given the topic of the story (political buffoonery by out esteemed electorate), the narrator is reading way too fast. Need to slow down to I can digest the irony in the story. I've read (listened) to many other Taibi books, so imagine if you're not familiar with this author. You'd be lost by chapter 2.

A MUST READ FOR EVERY AMERICAN

A sobering picture of the so called American democracy. We can delude our self's all we want, but we do not live in a democracy. Everything is for sale to the highest biter and '' Fuck the poor '' is our national philosophy. I hope that people will read this book and be at least informed, about what's going on in America today.

Talks very fast, can be a tad dull

But the hilarious moments make it worth listening to. It is disturbing how the U.S. Congress has fallen so hard.

Storyteller

A great story as every medium sing praise of stories. This writer had me laughing and rolling into follow up laughs. Interleaving this guy with behavior science books 📚

Good content. Bad Reader

Mat Taibbis Smells Like Dead Elephants is an unvarnished look at the Bush presidency It’s irreverent look at the failings of their Iraq policy Katrina and the selling of our government. The reader however does not convey the sarcasm.

First time Taibbi

Wow. I mean wow. Not just impressed and expectations exceeded but blown away. I never knew Taibbi was such a titan. This stuff is Henry Miller like and I don’t think I could think of a higher compliment. I will absolutely be purchasing all of his other work.

Excellent investigative journalism

Everyone in america should listen to this book. MAGA? Fix government, get money out of politics.