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Here Comes Trouble
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Memoir & Autobiography (2011)"I had an unusually large-sized head, though this was not uncommon for a baby in the Midwest. The craniums in our part of the country were designed to leave a little extra room for the brain to grow in case one day we found ourselves exposed to something we didn't understand, like a foreign language, or a salad." Michael Moore-Oscar-winning filmmaker, bestselling author, the nation's unofficial provocateur laureate-is back, this time taking on an entirely new role, that of his own meta- Forrest Gump . Breaking the autobiographical mode, he presents twenty-four far-ranging, irreverent, and stranger-than-fiction vignettes from his own early life. One moment he's an eleven-year-old boy lost in the Senate and found by Bobby Kennedy; and in the next, he's inside the Bitburg cemetery with a dazed and confused Ronald Reagan. Fast-forwarding to 2003, he stuns the world by uttering the words "We live in fictitious times... with a fictitious president" in place of the expected "I'd like to thank the Academy." And none of that even comes close to the night the friendly priest at the seminary decides to show him how to perform his own exorcism. Capturing the zeitgeist of the past fifty years, yet deeply personal and unflinchingly honest, HERE COMES TROUBLE takes readers on an unforgettable, take-no-prisoners ride through the life and times of Michael Moore. No one will come away from this book without a sense of surprise about the Michael Moore most of us didn't know. Alternately funny, eye-opening, and moving, it's a book he has been writing-and living-his entire life.
429 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2011
111 people are currently reading
2733 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moore
366 books517 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael Moore is an American filmmaker, author and liberal political commentator. He is the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story, four of the top nine highest-grossing documentaries of all time.[3] In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting his personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections.[4] He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth.
Moore is a self-described liberal who has criticized globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, the Iraq War, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system in his written and cinematic works.
Wikipedia
Michael Moore is an American filmmaker, author and liberal political commentator. He is the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story, four of the top nine highest-grossing documentaries of all time.[3] In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting his personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections.[4] He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth.
Moore is a self-described liberal who has criticized globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, the Iraq War, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system in his written and cinematic works.
Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 558 reviews
December 13, 2011
There are two main schools of thought on Michael Moore: (1) he’s a self-righteous asshole who’ll do almost anything to garner attention for his books and movies; (2) he’s a man of great compassion, a fearless enemy of cruelty and injustice. I’m in the latter camp. Moore has gone to great lengths to expose hypocrisy in politics, war and commerce, often sacrificing personal safety in the process. Here Comes Trouble (the perfect title for his autobiography) reveals that his crusade to stamp out injustice and prejudice began in childhood, hinting that the single-minded sense of justice for which Moore has become famous is as much instinctive as learned. I applaud and admire his quest to change the world for the better.
While reading about events in Michael Moore’s life, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’s a non-fiction variation on Forrest Gump, such was the frequency - and wildly unlikely nature - of his presence at key adjuncts in history. He appeared at some of these landmark events by design, but more often than not he blundered into them serendipitously, as if guided by an unseen force which knew he would make a difference.
Reading the chapters that describe Moore's formative years, one can see the seeds that grew into unflinching personal beliefs. For his first nine years of school, Moore was taught by nuns. His only non-nun teacher during that time was a beautiful African-American woman who had a special fondness for the inquisitive youngster. Without any notice, she failed to return to school after discovering that her husband had been killed in the Vietnam war. The impact of that loss, coupled with his father’s emotional scars as a result of horrific World War II experiences, influenced the young Moore on a deep level, leading to epiphanies about the futility of war, and the development of a staunchly anti-war ideology. He was kicked out of the seminary for asking too many questions instead of accepting religious doctrine on blind faith. This shows that even the young Michael was unafraid to ask difficult - often awkward - questions, a trait that has served him well in his career as journalist and film-maker. At eighteen, he became the youngest person ever to be elected to his local school board. The improvements he made to the education system (while still at school himself) taught Moore that the democratic system can work...when strategy and passion are combined, one person can make a difference. As a teenager, he played the pivotal role in making it illegal for private clubs to discriminate against anyone on the basis of race. Enforced public segregation had already been banned, but the law didn’t extend to private clubs until Moore set out to correct that inequality. The story of how he achieved that goal is astonishing, especially considering his age at the time.
Much of Moore’s adult life is common knowledge. The book gives in-depth information on events such as the anti-Iraq-war Oscar-acceptance speech which led to Moore securing the #2 slot on America’s most-likely-to-be-assassinated list (behind only the president). As the death threats rolled in, Moore hired a team of mercenaries to guard him round the clock. Most people in that position would lie low or go into hiding, but Moore continued to crusade against injustice, racism, cruelty and inequality. That shows the stuff of which Michael Moore is made.
A remarkable man. A life-affirming book full of bravery, humour and compassion.
While reading about events in Michael Moore’s life, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’s a non-fiction variation on Forrest Gump, such was the frequency - and wildly unlikely nature - of his presence at key adjuncts in history. He appeared at some of these landmark events by design, but more often than not he blundered into them serendipitously, as if guided by an unseen force which knew he would make a difference.
Reading the chapters that describe Moore's formative years, one can see the seeds that grew into unflinching personal beliefs. For his first nine years of school, Moore was taught by nuns. His only non-nun teacher during that time was a beautiful African-American woman who had a special fondness for the inquisitive youngster. Without any notice, she failed to return to school after discovering that her husband had been killed in the Vietnam war. The impact of that loss, coupled with his father’s emotional scars as a result of horrific World War II experiences, influenced the young Moore on a deep level, leading to epiphanies about the futility of war, and the development of a staunchly anti-war ideology. He was kicked out of the seminary for asking too many questions instead of accepting religious doctrine on blind faith. This shows that even the young Michael was unafraid to ask difficult - often awkward - questions, a trait that has served him well in his career as journalist and film-maker. At eighteen, he became the youngest person ever to be elected to his local school board. The improvements he made to the education system (while still at school himself) taught Moore that the democratic system can work...when strategy and passion are combined, one person can make a difference. As a teenager, he played the pivotal role in making it illegal for private clubs to discriminate against anyone on the basis of race. Enforced public segregation had already been banned, but the law didn’t extend to private clubs until Moore set out to correct that inequality. The story of how he achieved that goal is astonishing, especially considering his age at the time.
Much of Moore’s adult life is common knowledge. The book gives in-depth information on events such as the anti-Iraq-war Oscar-acceptance speech which led to Moore securing the #2 slot on America’s most-likely-to-be-assassinated list (behind only the president). As the death threats rolled in, Moore hired a team of mercenaries to guard him round the clock. Most people in that position would lie low or go into hiding, but Moore continued to crusade against injustice, racism, cruelty and inequality. That shows the stuff of which Michael Moore is made.
A remarkable man. A life-affirming book full of bravery, humour and compassion.
February 11, 2014
I know it may not come as a surprise to some of you, but I like Michael Moore. I have always liked him, ever since I saw an eye-opening little indie film in the late-80s called "Roger & Me", a humorous but subtly scathing documentary in which Moore, an amateur filmmaker, attempts to get a simple little interview with Roger Smith, the then-CEO of GM, in order to talk to him about the closure of a factory in Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan that resulted in the loss of several thousand jobs. It was, in my opinion, a great film about a disturbing new trend in business called outsourcing. He soon followed it up with other great documentaries such as "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11". Those films, of course, garnered as much controversy and disdain as they did accolades.
Many, if not most, conservatives and Republicans generally hate Moore, who is as liberal as a nutcake, and he seems okay with that, which is admirable. Like Moore, I have a pretty strong mistrust of authority figures. And, also like Moore, I don't like the Republican party at all. This is not to say that I don't like particular members of the party. There are many Republicans that I respect and admire.**** I just feel (and I'm pretty sure Moore feels this too) that the GOP has gone off the deep end. Of course, Moore's megaphone and soapbox are a lot bigger than other liberal counterpoints to conservative voices like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter, so he's an easy target.
Apparently, many if not most conservatives don't like it when people have opinions contrary to their own, and they can get pretty nasty when and if those people don't immediately "see the light" and change their opinions accordingly. This is why Moore was forced, at one point, to hire Navy Seals as bodyguards, due to an unusually large number of death threats and actual physical assaults made upon Moore and his family members. Strange, how some members of the party that has traditionally stood for "family values" would resort to physical violence against Moore and his family, but I suppose this is a testament to the mental and spiritual anguish Moore inflicted on these people with the power of his voice. He must be pretty subversive.
Of course, he's not. He's just saying things that many people think but are afraid to verbalize, especially in a post-9/11 world in which former President George W. Bush stated pretty clearly that "if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists", which still seems to be the mentality of a portion of the Republican Party. (Indeed, a disturbing 20% of the American public, when polled, STILL believes the lie that President Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist.)
Moore continues to rock the boat, through his films, public appearances, and occasional published books. In 2011, he published the aptly-titled "Here Comes Trouble", a collection of short memoir-like stories. The most surprising thing about the book is how un-scathing it is. Moore's boyhood growing up in the suburbs of Flint, Michigan to his days as an amateur filmmaker are surprisingly, well, un-subversive.
I'm sure many conservative readers (assuming there are any) of Moore's autobiography will be shocked to find that he was NOT raised in Moscow by a cadre of KGB agents training him from a very early age to hate America and devote his life to criticizing America's obsession with guns, war, money, and oil. Sorry. None of that. No, Moore's childhood was a pretty typical baby boomer life of middle-class blah. Granted, he happened to grow up during some pretty intense episodes---the Civil rights movement, the Cold War, Vietnam, Nixon. Moore, we discover, was a budding hippy.
In some surprisingly eloquent and beautiful prose, Moore tells the story of how he came to be the subversive that he is: a Catholic who believes in gay rights and abortion rights, an NRA member who believes in gun control, and a wealthy Hollywood filmmaker who has the temerity to believe that maybe those with the most wealth should help out those with the least. Pretty subversive stuff...
****I have found that I have to include statements like this because some readers (especially those who are looking to pick my reviews apart) seem to think that I make too-sweeping generalizations and/or paint with too wide a brush, when in fact I am merely using a rhetorical device known as hyperbole. Sadly, hyperbole is lost on some people.
Many, if not most, conservatives and Republicans generally hate Moore, who is as liberal as a nutcake, and he seems okay with that, which is admirable. Like Moore, I have a pretty strong mistrust of authority figures. And, also like Moore, I don't like the Republican party at all. This is not to say that I don't like particular members of the party. There are many Republicans that I respect and admire.**** I just feel (and I'm pretty sure Moore feels this too) that the GOP has gone off the deep end. Of course, Moore's megaphone and soapbox are a lot bigger than other liberal counterpoints to conservative voices like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter, so he's an easy target.
Apparently, many if not most conservatives don't like it when people have opinions contrary to their own, and they can get pretty nasty when and if those people don't immediately "see the light" and change their opinions accordingly. This is why Moore was forced, at one point, to hire Navy Seals as bodyguards, due to an unusually large number of death threats and actual physical assaults made upon Moore and his family members. Strange, how some members of the party that has traditionally stood for "family values" would resort to physical violence against Moore and his family, but I suppose this is a testament to the mental and spiritual anguish Moore inflicted on these people with the power of his voice. He must be pretty subversive.
Of course, he's not. He's just saying things that many people think but are afraid to verbalize, especially in a post-9/11 world in which former President George W. Bush stated pretty clearly that "if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists", which still seems to be the mentality of a portion of the Republican Party. (Indeed, a disturbing 20% of the American public, when polled, STILL believes the lie that President Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist.)
Moore continues to rock the boat, through his films, public appearances, and occasional published books. In 2011, he published the aptly-titled "Here Comes Trouble", a collection of short memoir-like stories. The most surprising thing about the book is how un-scathing it is. Moore's boyhood growing up in the suburbs of Flint, Michigan to his days as an amateur filmmaker are surprisingly, well, un-subversive.
I'm sure many conservative readers (assuming there are any) of Moore's autobiography will be shocked to find that he was NOT raised in Moscow by a cadre of KGB agents training him from a very early age to hate America and devote his life to criticizing America's obsession with guns, war, money, and oil. Sorry. None of that. No, Moore's childhood was a pretty typical baby boomer life of middle-class blah. Granted, he happened to grow up during some pretty intense episodes---the Civil rights movement, the Cold War, Vietnam, Nixon. Moore, we discover, was a budding hippy.
In some surprisingly eloquent and beautiful prose, Moore tells the story of how he came to be the subversive that he is: a Catholic who believes in gay rights and abortion rights, an NRA member who believes in gun control, and a wealthy Hollywood filmmaker who has the temerity to believe that maybe those with the most wealth should help out those with the least. Pretty subversive stuff...
****I have found that I have to include statements like this because some readers (especially those who are looking to pick my reviews apart) seem to think that I make too-sweeping generalizations and/or paint with too wide a brush, when in fact I am merely using a rhetorical device known as hyperbole. Sadly, hyperbole is lost on some people.
September 19, 2011
Michael Moore was wrong. When Glenn Beck mused at length on TV about whether or not to murder him, finally asking himself WWJD,? when Bill O’Reilly considered the topic as well, and when Bill Kemmer posed this directly to Moore, live, on TV, at the 2004 Democratic convention, “I’ve heard people say they wish Michael Moore were dead,.” Michael should have understood they were just expressing their opinion. Not setting off loons in TV ville.
. The picture of Michael Moore as a toddler, on the cover, under the title, of HERE COMES TROUBLE is perfect. You should have learned better by now, young man.. After a time, he should have known what to say to Kurt Vonnegut when Vonnegut, who befriended him, wrote Moore was his “hero” and when John Lennon talked to him offering to help.. “You guys are passé. That stuff is gone, that part of my life is over. The ideals of America, the integrity of a person. Forget it. Believing if you are kind to someone they’ll be kind to you, that you should be honest and willing to hear the other person. That they should do the same. That you should ask questions, especially the ones they don’t want you to ask, see what’s happening around you and write it down, read, all of this should have ended when you closed your dorm door for the last time and walked out into the world.”
He and a friend who needed to move on and let bygones be bygones should not have demonstrated at Bitburg when Reagan visited the Nazi graves. He should not have created a crisis line because of the horrors happening to his friends. When a man came in with a shot gun one night threatening to blow his own head off when Michael Moore was alone there, he should not have treated him like a hurt human being. He shouldn’t have saved the guy’s life. The guy , like Moore, was a coward. Let him die if he wants to. What would Beck have done if confronted with that?
Michael Moore has caused trouble for himself all his life. It was his parents’ fault. They were on his side all the way. Imagine. How could he not know this? To become a member of the school board when he was 18 all because he refused to take a vicious paddling is so sadly disrespectful. Of course, if he had listened to people all around him, if he had let others define him, when he received the Oscar for FAHRENHEIT 9/11, all those boos and curse words thrown at him by so much of Hollywood would not have happened..
No one would have keyed his Oscar. Of course he never would have won that Oscar. His film would not have been personally screened by the Bushes. He never would have made a difference in this country by somehow in his soft voice, with logic on his side, won so many millions over to him. He would not have had to hire ex-Navy SEALS to protect him, and they did, such a danger he, defending all those nefarious minorities, and seeing the irony and hypocrisy.
But if he had not caused trouble by holding fast to what we all say we believe., this gentle compassionate, decent man would not have been able to touch the human heart as widely as he does. Read Michael Moore’s book, read all of them, and learn how humanity connects us all whether we like it or not.
It’s filled with history, personal and of this country. Somehow he is able to be honest with himself and to metaphorically put his arm around a person’s shoulder and say somehow we’ll work it out..
My phone conversation with an ex-friend:
“Don’t go see that movie.”
“Movie, you mean GODZILLA?” That’s what we were talking about, with the bad special effects wasn’t it?
“No, that movie by that guy, you know.”
“You mean FAHRENHEIT 9/11.”
“Stay home and vote your conscience.”
I’d had enough of pretending, of keeping quiet. I had done that all my life. So I took a huge breath and said.
“No, I’m going to see that movie. His name is Michael Moore. Not only do I like his movies, I like his books and TV programs, and him.”
The friendship, a good one, though we tried hard to save it, ended when I stopped agreeing with everything said. After that conversation, I cried. Like Michael Moore, like my friend, like me, like everybody in this country, we love America. If only we could see we disagree for the exact same reasons. Oddly enough, I said that to my friend one night, and we agreed. I think that is exactly what Moore is saying.
Michael Moore is the man who believes what they taught us in third grade. After all, if you’ve got to be wrong, this is a pretty good way to do it. And btw he has an infectious laugh that makes you feel good too. This is also a very funny book. He is such a graceful writer. Kurt Vonnegut said to him “ít has become impossible to write fiction and make it believable.”. As Moore said at the Oscars, we live in fictitious times. The stories in this book are real and very personal to him. He tells you about a gay kid in school and what happened, or a Jewish man in pain of history, or a girl he knew who died of a botched abortion and he has to at least touch our collective souls. I think we still have one.
Peace.
. The picture of Michael Moore as a toddler, on the cover, under the title, of HERE COMES TROUBLE is perfect. You should have learned better by now, young man.. After a time, he should have known what to say to Kurt Vonnegut when Vonnegut, who befriended him, wrote Moore was his “hero” and when John Lennon talked to him offering to help.. “You guys are passé. That stuff is gone, that part of my life is over. The ideals of America, the integrity of a person. Forget it. Believing if you are kind to someone they’ll be kind to you, that you should be honest and willing to hear the other person. That they should do the same. That you should ask questions, especially the ones they don’t want you to ask, see what’s happening around you and write it down, read, all of this should have ended when you closed your dorm door for the last time and walked out into the world.”
He and a friend who needed to move on and let bygones be bygones should not have demonstrated at Bitburg when Reagan visited the Nazi graves. He should not have created a crisis line because of the horrors happening to his friends. When a man came in with a shot gun one night threatening to blow his own head off when Michael Moore was alone there, he should not have treated him like a hurt human being. He shouldn’t have saved the guy’s life. The guy , like Moore, was a coward. Let him die if he wants to. What would Beck have done if confronted with that?
Michael Moore has caused trouble for himself all his life. It was his parents’ fault. They were on his side all the way. Imagine. How could he not know this? To become a member of the school board when he was 18 all because he refused to take a vicious paddling is so sadly disrespectful. Of course, if he had listened to people all around him, if he had let others define him, when he received the Oscar for FAHRENHEIT 9/11, all those boos and curse words thrown at him by so much of Hollywood would not have happened..
No one would have keyed his Oscar. Of course he never would have won that Oscar. His film would not have been personally screened by the Bushes. He never would have made a difference in this country by somehow in his soft voice, with logic on his side, won so many millions over to him. He would not have had to hire ex-Navy SEALS to protect him, and they did, such a danger he, defending all those nefarious minorities, and seeing the irony and hypocrisy.
But if he had not caused trouble by holding fast to what we all say we believe., this gentle compassionate, decent man would not have been able to touch the human heart as widely as he does. Read Michael Moore’s book, read all of them, and learn how humanity connects us all whether we like it or not.
It’s filled with history, personal and of this country. Somehow he is able to be honest with himself and to metaphorically put his arm around a person’s shoulder and say somehow we’ll work it out..
My phone conversation with an ex-friend:
“Don’t go see that movie.”
“Movie, you mean GODZILLA?” That’s what we were talking about, with the bad special effects wasn’t it?
“No, that movie by that guy, you know.”
“You mean FAHRENHEIT 9/11.”
“Stay home and vote your conscience.”
I’d had enough of pretending, of keeping quiet. I had done that all my life. So I took a huge breath and said.
“No, I’m going to see that movie. His name is Michael Moore. Not only do I like his movies, I like his books and TV programs, and him.”
The friendship, a good one, though we tried hard to save it, ended when I stopped agreeing with everything said. After that conversation, I cried. Like Michael Moore, like my friend, like me, like everybody in this country, we love America. If only we could see we disagree for the exact same reasons. Oddly enough, I said that to my friend one night, and we agreed. I think that is exactly what Moore is saying.
Michael Moore is the man who believes what they taught us in third grade. After all, if you’ve got to be wrong, this is a pretty good way to do it. And btw he has an infectious laugh that makes you feel good too. This is also a very funny book. He is such a graceful writer. Kurt Vonnegut said to him “ít has become impossible to write fiction and make it believable.”. As Moore said at the Oscars, we live in fictitious times. The stories in this book are real and very personal to him. He tells you about a gay kid in school and what happened, or a Jewish man in pain of history, or a girl he knew who died of a botched abortion and he has to at least touch our collective souls. I think we still have one.
Peace.
March 16, 2012
I've seen his documentaries and was impressed. Now that I've read his memoir, I am extremely impressed with Michael Moore as an individual. This man was a game-changer beginning with adolescence. I heartily recommend "Here Comes Trouble" to everyone. Hard to put down. He's an American hero despite what the neo-conservatives who've never seen his films might tell you. We need more like him.
August 9, 2025
Short stories about Michael Moore….. some fun and some very serious. Highly recommended.
April 25, 2012
Note: This review is by my husband Jim.
I never would have chosen to read this book had it not been selected by one of the book clubs to which I belong. Nevertheless, I am quite happy to have read it. Subtitled "Stories from My Life," all of its chapters (except the first one) relate to events that took place before Moore’s movie, Roger and Me, was released and Moore, now an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, author, and well-known contrarian, became famous.
Moore begins with his birth and babyhood in 1954, and it didn’t take long before he embarked on his career of protesting, muckraking, and agitating. He even complains about his newborn years in retrospect, expressing outrage that doctors encouraged women to feed babies (including him) “Carnation Sugared Milk-Like Fatty Liquid Yum-Yum Substance” rather than breast milk.
At age 14, he got kicked out of St. Paul’s Seminary in Saginaw for asking too many questions. [He must have been very bad, indeed. My classmates at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois still remember me as the boy who drove the priests crazy with my “challenges,” but they never went so far as to kick me out!]
Moore then went to the local high school and got elected to conservative local school board, becoming the youngest elected official in the United States. He also founded a newspaper in high school and started an abortion hot line and crisis center. But he couldn’t get a date.
As one who has seen him in his films would expect (he is portly, sloppy, and generally not considered attractive physically), he was shy and generally unsuccessful with girls in high school and college. His description of the terrors of asking an attractive girl for a date is very entertaining.
Despite growing up in a conservative Catholic environment, Moore seems never to have had a Republican-leaning thought in his life. He has always sympathized with the oppressed and downtrodden, which makes for heartfelt descriptions of the treatment of blacks in the 1950’s and 1960’s. As one would expect, he vigorously opposed American involvement in Viet Nam. Nevertheless, his description of Richard Nixon, who was disgraced by the Watergate scandal and so derided that he could scarcely travel outside the White House, is poignant and almost sympathetic.
Moore’s outstanding characteristic is his chutzpah. When Ronald Reagan placed a wreath on the graves of some of Hitler’s S.S. troops, Moore and a Jewish friend snuck through tight security to unveil a sign saying, “They killed my family.” His lack of fear of disapproval also enabled him to film a group of neo-Nazis and to confront the President of General Motors (Roger Smith) and the president of the National Rifle Association (Charlton Heston).
Evaluation: Even while not agreeing with Moore on all issues, I found this book to be - like his movies, consistently entertaining and often downright funny.
Rating: 3.5/5
I never would have chosen to read this book had it not been selected by one of the book clubs to which I belong. Nevertheless, I am quite happy to have read it. Subtitled "Stories from My Life," all of its chapters (except the first one) relate to events that took place before Moore’s movie, Roger and Me, was released and Moore, now an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, author, and well-known contrarian, became famous.
Moore begins with his birth and babyhood in 1954, and it didn’t take long before he embarked on his career of protesting, muckraking, and agitating. He even complains about his newborn years in retrospect, expressing outrage that doctors encouraged women to feed babies (including him) “Carnation Sugared Milk-Like Fatty Liquid Yum-Yum Substance” rather than breast milk.
At age 14, he got kicked out of St. Paul’s Seminary in Saginaw for asking too many questions. [He must have been very bad, indeed. My classmates at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois still remember me as the boy who drove the priests crazy with my “challenges,” but they never went so far as to kick me out!]
Moore then went to the local high school and got elected to conservative local school board, becoming the youngest elected official in the United States. He also founded a newspaper in high school and started an abortion hot line and crisis center. But he couldn’t get a date.
As one who has seen him in his films would expect (he is portly, sloppy, and generally not considered attractive physically), he was shy and generally unsuccessful with girls in high school and college. His description of the terrors of asking an attractive girl for a date is very entertaining.
Despite growing up in a conservative Catholic environment, Moore seems never to have had a Republican-leaning thought in his life. He has always sympathized with the oppressed and downtrodden, which makes for heartfelt descriptions of the treatment of blacks in the 1950’s and 1960’s. As one would expect, he vigorously opposed American involvement in Viet Nam. Nevertheless, his description of Richard Nixon, who was disgraced by the Watergate scandal and so derided that he could scarcely travel outside the White House, is poignant and almost sympathetic.
Moore’s outstanding characteristic is his chutzpah. When Ronald Reagan placed a wreath on the graves of some of Hitler’s S.S. troops, Moore and a Jewish friend snuck through tight security to unveil a sign saying, “They killed my family.” His lack of fear of disapproval also enabled him to film a group of neo-Nazis and to confront the President of General Motors (Roger Smith) and the president of the National Rifle Association (Charlton Heston).
Evaluation: Even while not agreeing with Moore on all issues, I found this book to be - like his movies, consistently entertaining and often downright funny.
Rating: 3.5/5
October 1, 2011
I purchased this book after reading an excerpt published in The Guardian. I was shocked to discover how much Moore's life has been affected by his activism work -- or, to put it more bluntly, just how many people are eager to stop him from using his voice to raise awareness about rising inequality and the devastating effects that is having on American society.
This is also a fascinating and fun-to-read biography. If you think that Michael Moore, the activist, was "born" when he decided to make his groundbreaking film Roger and Me, think again. That's where this book wraps up -- after describing the questioning mind and the passion for justice that often got him into trouble earlier on in life and fast-forwarding to the more recent past, when he was forced to hire Navy Seals to protect him.
I'm going to share my favorite quotations from the book in the quotations area here at GoodReads (so they can be discovered by more people), but I'll leave you with these two from the final chapter, "Gratitude," in the meantime:
On the rise of economic inequality in America: "Few foresaw how the taking of just one itsy-bitsy little thread and pulling it out of the middle-class fabric would soon unravel the entire tapestry, leaving everyone struggling in a dog-eat-dog existence, a weekly battle to keep one's head above water. On one level, it was pure political genius, because the electorate - so consumed with its own personal survival, would never be able to find the time or energy to politically organize the workplace, the neighborhood, or the town to revolt against the mad scientists and politicians who had engineered their demise."
On the making of Roger and Me: "It would have a point of view, but not the point of rigid, unfunny Left. I felt no need to fake the sort of "objectivity" that other journalists deceitfully hid behind. And I could sit there in our cramped edit room and see an imaginary audience in a big dark theater howling, cheering, hissing, and leaving the movie house ready to rumble."
This is also a fascinating and fun-to-read biography. If you think that Michael Moore, the activist, was "born" when he decided to make his groundbreaking film Roger and Me, think again. That's where this book wraps up -- after describing the questioning mind and the passion for justice that often got him into trouble earlier on in life and fast-forwarding to the more recent past, when he was forced to hire Navy Seals to protect him.
I'm going to share my favorite quotations from the book in the quotations area here at GoodReads (so they can be discovered by more people), but I'll leave you with these two from the final chapter, "Gratitude," in the meantime:
On the rise of economic inequality in America: "Few foresaw how the taking of just one itsy-bitsy little thread and pulling it out of the middle-class fabric would soon unravel the entire tapestry, leaving everyone struggling in a dog-eat-dog existence, a weekly battle to keep one's head above water. On one level, it was pure political genius, because the electorate - so consumed with its own personal survival, would never be able to find the time or energy to politically organize the workplace, the neighborhood, or the town to revolt against the mad scientists and politicians who had engineered their demise."
On the making of Roger and Me: "It would have a point of view, but not the point of rigid, unfunny Left. I felt no need to fake the sort of "objectivity" that other journalists deceitfully hid behind. And I could sit there in our cramped edit room and see an imaginary audience in a big dark theater howling, cheering, hissing, and leaving the movie house ready to rumble."
April 12, 2012
This book is so popular here in Sacramento that I had to wait several months to get it from the library, and there are still 25 people behind me waiting.
It's got a devastating opening chapter, a recount of the infamous Moore Oscar award (2003) acceptance speech. Even if you don't like MM, the hate and death threats he and his family received afterwards will shock you. The family history chapter is interesting, but the genealogical explanations are a bit overdone, even for me, a genealogy idiot.
A few details: He was briefly the editor of Mother Jones, he didn't go to film school, and he presents some [very] interesting Catholic school stories. At one point, he apparently had massive rage at Roger Smith, the 1980s CEO of GM. I find that level of anger hard to understand, but I wasn't there; besides, a great filmmaker was born of that rage.
The ending is delightful genius, 20+ years back from the present, in a tony western Colorado ski town, thousands of miles removed from hardscrabble Flint, Michigan, the city that made Michael Moore, a true American icon.
It's got a devastating opening chapter, a recount of the infamous Moore Oscar award (2003) acceptance speech. Even if you don't like MM, the hate and death threats he and his family received afterwards will shock you. The family history chapter is interesting, but the genealogical explanations are a bit overdone, even for me, a genealogy idiot.
A few details: He was briefly the editor of Mother Jones, he didn't go to film school, and he presents some [very] interesting Catholic school stories. At one point, he apparently had massive rage at Roger Smith, the 1980s CEO of GM. I find that level of anger hard to understand, but I wasn't there; besides, a great filmmaker was born of that rage.
The ending is delightful genius, 20+ years back from the present, in a tony western Colorado ski town, thousands of miles removed from hardscrabble Flint, Michigan, the city that made Michael Moore, a true American icon.
July 30, 2020
I'm an unabashed admirer of Michael Moore's. To me, he is the ultimate patriot: risking everything, even his own skin, to stand up against tyranny, corruption and injustice. I read this book several years ago and now, re-reading, I am reminded why I have always considered him such an outstanding individual. He is at once brilliant, incisive, disarmingly honest, a great story teller and best of all, he has that famous "timing" that is the secret of all the best comedians. This book is a classic and is one to read and re-read.
November 29, 2011
This was a fascinating read because I wasn't Michael Moore fan when I began. I wasn't NOT a fan - I've enjoyed his movies and have been thankful that someone was out there crusading tirelessly for causes I support, but I wasn't an active fan. That may change now, less because of his movies and more for who he is and the courage he's had throughout his life to speak against injustice when everyone else is silent, when speaking out will draw scorn or worse.
I picked the book up after hearing an interview with him. He begins with the (shocking) way people (including Hollywood liberals) treated him after he denouced the war in his Oscar's speech in 2002. People were SO angry. Moore hired Navy Seals to protect him, there were so many death threats. That's how the book opens. From there he goes back to tell stories of his life and they shed light on why he does what he does today. More precisely, how he couldn't do anything BUT what he does today - he doesn't say this, but it's obvious he was born with a raw determination to denouce injustice, and that, along with a few other qualities noble and irritating, are so intrinsic, that his life has been like a cannon after launch. I paused many times in the book - particularly after the chapter on the Elk's Club - to ask myself whether I'd have the courage to have done what he did. Sadly, often I would not.
Not everyone may find his stories profound, but they really got me thinking about what it takes to speak out and why it is that a lot of good-hearted souls remain silent. It's important to be broad-minded and see the other point of view for so many things in life, but when you're facing issues of poverty, racism, war, you want the single-mindedness of Moore on your side.
I picked the book up after hearing an interview with him. He begins with the (shocking) way people (including Hollywood liberals) treated him after he denouced the war in his Oscar's speech in 2002. People were SO angry. Moore hired Navy Seals to protect him, there were so many death threats. That's how the book opens. From there he goes back to tell stories of his life and they shed light on why he does what he does today. More precisely, how he couldn't do anything BUT what he does today - he doesn't say this, but it's obvious he was born with a raw determination to denouce injustice, and that, along with a few other qualities noble and irritating, are so intrinsic, that his life has been like a cannon after launch. I paused many times in the book - particularly after the chapter on the Elk's Club - to ask myself whether I'd have the courage to have done what he did. Sadly, often I would not.
Not everyone may find his stories profound, but they really got me thinking about what it takes to speak out and why it is that a lot of good-hearted souls remain silent. It's important to be broad-minded and see the other point of view for so many things in life, but when you're facing issues of poverty, racism, war, you want the single-mindedness of Moore on your side.
December 18, 2012
I like Michael Moore. I know, I know: uber-lefty, makes progoganda films, tells partial truths, etc. But damn it, the man is funny. And he's insightful. I saw his first movie, Roger&Me, while I was in college, and I was deeply affected. I've seen every one of his movies, and each time I walk away both provoked and informed. Michael Moore is like watching FOX News, or MSNBC: you have to know what you are getting into from the beginning, and if you do, you can get something out of your experience.
I enjoyed this book, although I generally find autobiographies to be very problematic (that is, a person has very little incentive to tell hard truths about themselves, as well as presenting their errors in the most positive and self-serving light). It is not shock to me to learn that Moore is a hippy sixties-type fellow who has been a gadfly since the fifth grade. Moore's childhood sounded a lot like mine: blue collar Catholic family, neighborhood friends and fun, etc. Like many of the young people in his generation, he began to chaffe against the conformity of his culture, and began to question how certain groups of people (gays, women, minorities) were being treated. Eventually he began running a newspaper, then started making movies. It's a good story.
I was surprised that he wrote so little about his wife since a lot of the book is about his failed attempts at romance as a young man. I would have like to learn more about her and his children.
All in all, a good book. Again: I can't help but like this guy, even as he, at time, drives me crazy.
I enjoyed this book, although I generally find autobiographies to be very problematic (that is, a person has very little incentive to tell hard truths about themselves, as well as presenting their errors in the most positive and self-serving light). It is not shock to me to learn that Moore is a hippy sixties-type fellow who has been a gadfly since the fifth grade. Moore's childhood sounded a lot like mine: blue collar Catholic family, neighborhood friends and fun, etc. Like many of the young people in his generation, he began to chaffe against the conformity of his culture, and began to question how certain groups of people (gays, women, minorities) were being treated. Eventually he began running a newspaper, then started making movies. It's a good story.
I was surprised that he wrote so little about his wife since a lot of the book is about his failed attempts at romance as a young man. I would have like to learn more about her and his children.
All in all, a good book. Again: I can't help but like this guy, even as he, at time, drives me crazy.
October 19, 2019
When I first heard Michael Moore I thought he was kind of a loud mouth. But he has grown on me. I will always think of him as the guy that said "America, you have just elected your last president" after the last election. I have not watched his documentary called Bowling For Columbine but it is on tonight so I am planning on watching it. He can be so serious sometimes and at other times he can be so funny. This book is some of both. The title gives you an idea that when he was a kid and even into adulthood he was always up to something. I admired the fact that if he saw something that was wrong he went after it, including running for school board at the age of 18 when he was still in school and his perserverance when the older establishment tried to nix it in the bud. This book was published in 2011, so no commentary on the current state of politics. I'm sure he would have had a lot to say if it had been more current.
October 29, 2020
I don't see eye to eye with Michael Moore on a LOT of issues. But I absolutely love his books and movies. This one does not disappoint. The man is a genius. And I think he's for real. He addresses his audience as though he's conversing with us. He is biased and makes no bones about it. And he has the rare ability to make even a person with somewhat opposing views understand and sympathize with his positions.
The book talks about Moore's childhood, how he got involved in politics (he was elected to the school board as a teenager) and how he winds up making documentaries. I very much enjoyed reading about the making of "Roger and Me," a surprise of a movie that made Michael Moore a celebrity.
Written with empathy and gently delightful humor, you'd have to be close-minded indeed to not get something out of this book. I listened to the audio book, read by the author, which definitely adds to the experience.
The book talks about Moore's childhood, how he got involved in politics (he was elected to the school board as a teenager) and how he winds up making documentaries. I very much enjoyed reading about the making of "Roger and Me," a surprise of a movie that made Michael Moore a celebrity.
Written with empathy and gently delightful humor, you'd have to be close-minded indeed to not get something out of this book. I listened to the audio book, read by the author, which definitely adds to the experience.
August 17, 2012
A line from one of my favorite Dixie Chicks songs is "You don't like the sound of the truth coming from my mouth" and when I think of Michael Moore, I think of this line. I relate to Michael Moore's brutal honesty. And how like me, he tends to put his foot in his mouth which gets him into trouble even when he has the best of intentions. I enjoyed the short stories in this book. I laughed, I cried, I was surprised. I know how much I enjoyed a book when I am sad to have it end. This is a must read for anyone who grow up in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Even though I did not grow up during that time frame, it still made for a good read.
October 5, 2011
I opened this book to take a quick glance then return it to the library. All of a sudden I've finished 550 pages of fascinating storytelling by a man in his early 50's who has happened to be at the right place, right time while history was taking place--Our history. It's worth a look!
August 16, 2017
I'm impressed
June 22, 2014
You'd always suspected some Americans were a bit on the mad side. Reading this, you'll still be surprised at just how mad some of them actually are. Read this little gem from Glenn Beck (quoted in the opening chapter), and you might well conclude that Stephen King let Beck off lightly when he described him as 'Satan's mentally challenged younger brother':
"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it ... No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out [of him]. Is this wrong? I stopped wearing my 'What Would Jesus Do?' band, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, 'Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore', and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realise, 'Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death.' And you know, well, I'm not sure."
When an Ayatollah urges his fanatical followers to murder someone, the world condemns; When a Fox News hack does the same, redneck American cheers. This 'anti-autobiography' describes, in vignettes of varying quality, the ups and downs of growing up in such a country.
Oddly, the best parts are the least political. The accounts of the seminary-trained young Moore trying to get off with cheerleaders, and later 'accidentally' stalking film critic Roger Ebert are often wildly funny, and merit re-reading.
The bits about him as an adult, however tend to disappoint: they sound exaggerated, grandiose, and unconvincing, like the more questionable parts of his documentaries. For all his public persona as the humble guy in the street, he comes across as being a bit fond of himself. (Moore credits himself with single-handedly thwarting the spread of institutional racism in the US at the tender age of 17; and has Kurt Vonnegut describe him in roughly the same terms John the Baptist might have described Christ.)
Essentially, the book leaves Moore as you found him: an affable rabble-rouser, playing loose with context against the big-shots who play looser with lives, livelihoods and human dignity.
"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it ... No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out [of him]. Is this wrong? I stopped wearing my 'What Would Jesus Do?' band, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, 'Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore', and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realise, 'Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death.' And you know, well, I'm not sure."
When an Ayatollah urges his fanatical followers to murder someone, the world condemns; When a Fox News hack does the same, redneck American cheers. This 'anti-autobiography' describes, in vignettes of varying quality, the ups and downs of growing up in such a country.
Oddly, the best parts are the least political. The accounts of the seminary-trained young Moore trying to get off with cheerleaders, and later 'accidentally' stalking film critic Roger Ebert are often wildly funny, and merit re-reading.
The bits about him as an adult, however tend to disappoint: they sound exaggerated, grandiose, and unconvincing, like the more questionable parts of his documentaries. For all his public persona as the humble guy in the street, he comes across as being a bit fond of himself. (Moore credits himself with single-handedly thwarting the spread of institutional racism in the US at the tender age of 17; and has Kurt Vonnegut describe him in roughly the same terms John the Baptist might have described Christ.)
Essentially, the book leaves Moore as you found him: an affable rabble-rouser, playing loose with context against the big-shots who play looser with lives, livelihoods and human dignity.
April 16, 2012
Twenty years ago if Michael Moore would have started a church I would have become a charter member. Everything about his tv show and documentaries resonated with me. I liked his shlumpy outfits and baseball hats. I liked his dogged pursuit of truth and conversational tone. I saw him speak at the university of MN 10 yrs ago and was energized by his outspoken contempt for the political corruption disabling our society.Then he lost me or I guess we lost him. His memoir opens with a recount of how scary it was to be Michael Moore and how he had become a target icon. Here he tells his early life in a collection of short story chapters highlighting how events came together to make him the brand Michael Moore. It was a unique way to relive a common history of growing up in the Midwest during Vietnam and our parents' greatest generation. He captured that well. As a watchdog for the Everyman Michael Moore is a genius. But he is also an individual that possesses an ego. I think by the time he was making Sicko that his ego began to dominate and he became less a voice of the people and more a slick person from Hollywood really prone to bluster. Maybe a sad part of this shift came too because he wasn't a flashlight in the darkness anymore pointing out isolated ridiculous events. Suddenly all of it was becoming the norm and not just something we should be on the lookout for. The tone he tried to take in this memoir is that he was someone from a good family and that he was always different in an awshucks bumbling kind of way. The bumbler doesn't match his trademark bluster and I wanted to get a better sense of where his anger comes from. I didn't get it here. Maybe someone else should tell his story from a removed point of view. 4 stars for waking me up again to the long and winding road we've been on.
March 26, 2013
I had no idea how fascinating, intelligent, politically engaged and courageous Michael Moore is. This book is a collection of stories from his early life and the man is a very gifted storyteller. He made national TV news at 17 for speaking against the Elks' racially-restricted membership -- at an Elks-sponsored competition. His high school girlfriend's idea of student council was to plan dances, while his was to find out why the school only had two black teachers. His reaction to being beaten with a paddle for wearing his shirt un-tucked was to run for a position on the school board. As the youngest elected public official in the country, he got the feds to sue that school board for holding secret meetings just to exclude him. He protested at Nixon's last public speech and at Regan's decoration of Nazi graves in Germany. He ran a successful left-wing newspaper that continually got the mayor of Flint, GM and other politicians and corporations into trouble. All this before making his first movie.
Whether or not you agree with Moore's politics, these stories are important models of the varieties of political engagement -- all along the spectrum from making the system work to occupying a broken system. I'm going to share certain chapters with my education students for our inquiry into the social and political purposes of public education -- which include waking students up to the varieties of their potential for social action.
Whether or not you agree with Moore's politics, these stories are important models of the varieties of political engagement -- all along the spectrum from making the system work to occupying a broken system. I'm going to share certain chapters with my education students for our inquiry into the social and political purposes of public education -- which include waking students up to the varieties of their potential for social action.
January 23, 2012
This book, along with Bill Maher's New, New Rules, makes me wonder if people understand sardonic humor. John Mortimer's Rumpole the Baily or Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice get sarcasm. It is the art of making fun of others and ourselves by creating caricutures of one's opponent and oneself. Moore, like Maher before him, can gloriously debunk and outwit most Republican pundits, but does he have to sound just as offensivly self righteous? It isn't entertainment, it isn't making a point, it just sags. This book, like Moore, is at its best deflating targets like nazi's, right wingers, etc. Yet, it flails when Moore hops on his high horse. This is a fault shared by the films, Bowling for Columbine lost its center, point, whatever when Moore went after Charelton Heston, Heston had no more to do with the massacre than bowling. Fahrenhieght 451 worked because it didn't lose its edge. Rather than sink into self righteousness, it kept at the same point over and over. It was focused not so much on it's star but on what it's star was saying. I wish this book could have had more of that. Dude Where's My Country, had more of that focus too. I did enjoy Moore's humor, even more than Bill Maher, I just wish there was more of it.
April 26, 2012
I listened to this as an audiobook, which I feel is worth mentioning because Moore himself narrates and does a great job. I think that helped make the book even better since he's telling stories from his own life. I have watched most of his movies and generally agree with his politics, though I think he can be sensationalist and self-aggrandizing to the point of annoying at times. Having listened to ths book, I feel I have a deeper understanding of Moore, and the times he grew up in. Asa child of the '80s I missed a lot of the political goings-on, and it was fascinating to hear his stories from the Kennedy through Reagan years. The chapter about his friend's abortion really touched me emotionally, and his father's WWII story was very intense. I was really impressed with many of Moore's accomplishments at such a young age, particularly his founding of the youth addiction/suicide hotline and speech against racism in private organizations. He does do a lot of name-dropping, which is fun at times (the Robert Kennedy story) but gets a little old (he was BFFs with Kurt Vonnegut at the end there, doncha know). Still, I liked this book more than I expected I would, Moore is a great storyteller, which shows through in his films as well.
November 5, 2011
Despite being a book of mostly childhood and family memories (ranging from birth all the way to the release of his first film, Roger and Me), this book still packs a political punch. As a lefty in my 30's, I learned a lot about the struggles of the previous generation, including some of the events from before my time that got us in the situation we're in now. And as a longtime Michael Moore fan that thought I knew all there was to know about him, this book still had a lot of surprises in store for me (I had no idea he ran a newspaper for 10 years, or that he spent a year in the seminary studying to become a priest, to name just two).
A few of the shorter stories fall flat at the end, and some of the longer ones try to do some Sedaris-esque writing stunts without quite pulling them off, but overall this is an honest, well written, surprising, and often politically inspiring collection of stories. A must read.
A few of the shorter stories fall flat at the end, and some of the longer ones try to do some Sedaris-esque writing stunts without quite pulling them off, but overall this is an honest, well written, surprising, and often politically inspiring collection of stories. A must read.
February 13, 2013
This is a great book! The opening chapter is the best, centring on his Oscar -winning anti-war speech and the outrageous ramifications that had on his life and personal safety, but all the stories are really intriguing and well-written. I didn't realise that Michael Moore has done so many interesting and commendable things, like become the youngest elected office-bearer in the U.S (when he ran for the education board in his region so he could take action against dodgy school principals) and setting up a volunteer youth-run youth crisis centre in his town, and founding an alternative grassroots newspaper which ran for a decade or more and helping to overturn racial exclusion club policies when he was only young... and heaps of other things. Well worth a read.
Want to read
December 18, 2011Ordered from our wonderful Citrus County Library System, which owns several copies.
This came in today too. Cool photo of Michael as a toddler on the front, and as a slim teen on the back. With OWS gaining momentum, this is very timely.
This came in today too. Cool photo of Michael as a toddler on the front, and as a slim teen on the back. With OWS gaining momentum, this is very timely.
November 25, 2024
Never knew anything about Michael Moore. he was just some guy I saw on TV now and again. Found out a lot about him!
January 5, 2012
I’ve been a fan of Michael Moore for a long time. I’ve waited impatiently for his documentaries to finally make it to theaters in Alabama after their release, then dragged family members or friends to see the shows when they finally hit the local cinema. These people were always glad I had afterwards, but getting them there was sometimes a chore. Why go see a documentary when you can see a real movie? My daughter gifted me a set of his films several years ago, so I’ve had the chance to share some of his older ones with people at work and with those I volunteer with in social justice endeavors. So, yes, I admire his creative talents and his passion for exposing the truth in his filmmaking. His works have helped change the notion of documentaries and documentarians, and he has stirred up trouble for any and all rascals on the wrong side of his pointed and poignant targeted issues. Needless to say, his politics and mine mesh well, and I appreciate him keeping our stance in the forefront of social and political commentary.
I like him even more, I think, in his current role of recording secretary, unabashed cheerleader, and faithful supporter of the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and its expanding cities. He’s everywhere right now! Regular guest appearances on several news programs, continuous tweets, and his own blog reports keep me and many others abreast of all that’s happening as he visits and participates in the demonstrations in whatever city he happens to be. He started his own ruckus against Wall Street a couple of years ago with the release of his film “Capitalism: A Love Story”, so I’m sure he is wallowing in the fact that others now get the point he was trying to make… not just getting it, but actually lending their voices and their bodies to draw attention to the issue of the wealthy and money-powerful having it all. I applaud those who are willing to keep their voices in the fray, and I applaud Michael Moore for keeping attention riveted to their words and emotions on display.
And all of this beginning and going on in the midst of a new book launch and tour! Although his appearances on television because of Occupy Wall Street might aid the advertisement and sell of his new book, his already-scheduled appearances to promote the book surely solidified and supported his efforts for Occupy Wall Street. The book, “Here Comes Trouble: Stories from my Life��, certainly solidifies my belief that there is no better spokesperson than Michael Moore for any issue for which he has the passion to defend. The book is simply a compilation of life stories that illustrate the becoming of this man and some of the thought processing that contributed to that growth.
Even before the chapters began, I was empathizing with the writer: His dedication to his mother for teaching him to read at four and for wanting to commit his stories to paper “while paper (and bookstores and libraries) still existed” hit home as the same discussion that my generation has entertained for the last few years. And then, early into the book, I realized that this would be a journey through my own childhood in a way, just seen through the stories of someone else… and what stories are told in these pages! I’ve always countered Maya Angelou’s acknowledgement that “There is no greater agony than to bear an untold story” with my own lament of, “No, it’s even worse to have no stories to tell”. Once again, while reading “Here Comes Trouble”, I feel keenly the unwritten pages of my own life’s storybook, and am humbled by the courage and conviction shown in many of the stories… and really jealous of what, in some circumstances, can be deemed simply as sheer luck experienced by the author!
Born in the same year, into much the same lifestyle, Michael Moore’s life and mine followed many of the same paths. Although we felt much the same on many of the issues discussed, I think he was sooner to see what was going on… I felt the same fears, senses of injustice, and intense passions falling on both the pro and con sides of what was happening in our lives… I just wasn’t as quick to grasp the stark reality of a lot of it. Whereas he was quick to throw caution to the wind and act on his beliefs, I was way too guilty of being swayed by caution. And the people he’s met and gotten to know, working with and joining in communion through thought and spirit… it could make anyone envious!
I highly recommend this book for everyone to read, especially if you’re turning fifty-seven this year, like I am tomorrow. What happened to Michael Moore in the Flint, Michigan area, happened to me in Huntsville, Alabama, and later on in the Ft. Worth-Dallas area of Texas. I’m sure the same things were happening all over the country. But this read is more than a walk down memory lane, it’s a revisiting of what made him, and me, and many of our generation who we are. It’s sometimes humbling, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes down-right sad. But it is us, and this years-long snapshot shows a true picture of the good, the bad, and yes, the very ugly, that formed us as individuals and as a society.
I’ve enjoyed my “Michael Moore immersion experience” for the last month, or so. After reading his stories (and listening to them, too); constantly seeing his face on television; and traveling with him via tweets and twitters, I not only like him more, I also respect him. He is a man deeply convicted by his faith, accepting the directive of the real Jesus that tells us to look into the eyes of those in poverty, pain, and the shackles of injustice, and in return, to welcome these same people into our hearts. He doesn’t stop there, though: He tries to do something about the conditions in which he finds these people. He isn’t just a rebel for rebellion’s sake: He loves the United States and wants it to be the ideal that we espouse it to be. He thinks paying taxes is patriotic. He also uses his celebrity to open doors for his creative work and for the good of his chosen missions. He celebrates diversity of race, religion, gender, and experiences and condemns the inequity and inequality of racism, of under-education, and in the disparity of classism. He feels, as I do, that when we say “Let all God’s children say ‘Amen!’, we mean all God’s children, indeed. I really like Michael Moore.
Just a note…
Michael Moore has been successful in teaching his messages of the rights of hard-working Americans, gun control, political sins, insurance company and medical injustices, and the harm of corporate and political greed. We have seen him in New York, Oakland, Washington, D.C., and Portland in the last few weeks supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement. He courageously speaks his mind and makes his point in a world of fast-talking, business-minded, political-contesting, and media-bombarded society that garners him fans, of course, but enemies as well. I hope he brings his passion and grit, along with his book tour, further South before too long: It might do him good to get a slight change in pace, even if it might feel like a snail-crawl pace that is taking him too fast back in time. I’ve already extended him an invitation for his “Home Book Tour” to stop here in North Alabama. I hope he comes. He might bring trouble with him, as it seems he often does, but his visit would be like a deep breath of clean air or a long, cool drink of clear water for me… and as we enter into the cold winter months and even colder political new year, I can’t imagine anything better than a clear head, cleansed palette, and the for-sure inspiration a visit from Michael Moore would bring.
September 8, 2025
I have written enough reviews of Moore's books at this point that I have a little template I normally deploy. First, I praise his films and say he has made a couple of great and several good films. Then I say that these skills do not necessarily translate to book form, and go on to pan his book for being scatterbrained and not getting beyond surface level critiques.
That template has served me well for most of Moore's written works, but I have to depart from my normal practice here and say that Moore has managed to write the best book he's ever done because it is a fundamentally different kind of book than the others he has written. The purpose here is not to skewer a sitting administration but is instead a picaresque memoir, the large bulk of which occurring before he was a famous person.
This type of writing allows him to dial down the abrasiveness a bit and reflect on his own journey through life and tell some stories which are genuinely affecting. It is interesting to read about his run for the school board when he was 18, or getting lost in the bowels of Senate only to be found by Bobby Kennedy (I story that hits home to me, as I have also been hopelessly lost in the subbasements of the Senate), or about some of his early filmmaking efforts when he could still walk into a white supremacist compound and nobody would know who he was.
My feelings about Moore have become more complicated over time, but I will say this in his favor: he has often spoken up in situations where it would be easy to keep quiet. It's made a lot of people angry at him and made his own life harder than it would otherwise be. It's more than most of us are willing to do.
I could stand to read another book in the Here Comes Trouble vein, and hope Moore will keep in this mode more than the Stupid White Men model.
That template has served me well for most of Moore's written works, but I have to depart from my normal practice here and say that Moore has managed to write the best book he's ever done because it is a fundamentally different kind of book than the others he has written. The purpose here is not to skewer a sitting administration but is instead a picaresque memoir, the large bulk of which occurring before he was a famous person.
This type of writing allows him to dial down the abrasiveness a bit and reflect on his own journey through life and tell some stories which are genuinely affecting. It is interesting to read about his run for the school board when he was 18, or getting lost in the bowels of Senate only to be found by Bobby Kennedy (I story that hits home to me, as I have also been hopelessly lost in the subbasements of the Senate), or about some of his early filmmaking efforts when he could still walk into a white supremacist compound and nobody would know who he was.
My feelings about Moore have become more complicated over time, but I will say this in his favor: he has often spoken up in situations where it would be easy to keep quiet. It's made a lot of people angry at him and made his own life harder than it would otherwise be. It's more than most of us are willing to do.
I could stand to read another book in the Here Comes Trouble vein, and hope Moore will keep in this mode more than the Stupid White Men model.
December 17, 2023
If you're already a Michael Moore fan, you can't help but love this book. It's full of stories from his life, from childhood up to the making of Roger and me. Some are funny but most of them are sad, although told with the lightness of spirit that keeps you reading. There was only one that was so unrelentingly sad that I seriously considered giving up the audio book right then and there--and I'm so glad I didn't. It got better.
Sorry I can't think of a one to relate. There was the priest who couldn't forgive himself for his actions during World War II, but still insisted on pestering Mr. Moore to return to the church and start praying again. Maybe all the other redeeming acts he did weren't enough to allow him to be forgiven. That was kind of good. The stories of his early life, such as the gay kid in the neighborhood in an era when kids didn't know from gay, but their bigger brothers did. That one was sad, but it needed to be told. People need to know how things used to be.
The one story I could not recommend to anyone, anywhere, is the story of his mother's illness and hospitalization. It was a complete bummer.
But so much else was funny or funny mixed with with pathos, the stuff of great writing. To me.
Sorry I can't think of a one to relate. There was the priest who couldn't forgive himself for his actions during World War II, but still insisted on pestering Mr. Moore to return to the church and start praying again. Maybe all the other redeeming acts he did weren't enough to allow him to be forgiven. That was kind of good. The stories of his early life, such as the gay kid in the neighborhood in an era when kids didn't know from gay, but their bigger brothers did. That one was sad, but it needed to be told. People need to know how things used to be.
The one story I could not recommend to anyone, anywhere, is the story of his mother's illness and hospitalization. It was a complete bummer.
But so much else was funny or funny mixed with with pathos, the stuff of great writing. To me.
January 27, 2012
I’ve seen many of Michael Moore’s documentaries, but I realized when starting to read his auto-biography “Here Comes Trouble” that I knew very little about the man himself, other than a vague knowledge of his political stances.
Well, there was that one time at the Toronto International Film Festival when I was attending the Borat Premiere (The Book Guy is also a movie guy). The projector broke down just as the film was a few minutes in. Larry Charles and Sascha Baron Cohen took to the stage and Sascha was really funny (at the time he was still promoting the movie and in full Borat costume and mustache). Borat said from the pulpit something about Canadian projector technology being very similar to that of Khazakstan. Then I noticed a big guy with an entourage had arrived at the balcony where I was seated and was heading for the projector room, passing by my seat. It was Michael Moore. The man had gone all the way up to the projector room with his entourage (who through reading this book I realize now must have been ex-special forces security guards) and was trying his darndest to fix the damn thing. Unfortunately a part had broken and Michael was unable to save the day, but the very fact that he tried made him okay in my books. That’s all I knew about Michael Moore really before reading his auto-biography.
To be honest, I was not expecting an entertaining read. Boy was I wrong.
Early on in the book, he discusses his appearance at the Academy Awards on March 23, 2003. Four nights earlier George W Bush had taken America into a war with Iraq. That night, Michael Moore won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. He had asked all the best documentary nominees to join him on stage if he won, and most of them did. As he took his statue he gave his now infamous speech:
" I’ve invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us. They are here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction, yet we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where we have ficticious election results that elect a ficticious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for ficticious reasons. Whether it’s the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts; we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you! And anytime you’ve got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up! Thank you very much!
I rememberd this Academy Awards and how quickly Michael Moore was booed off the stage. Michael goes on to tell about the security nightmare he suffered after this. I was amazed at the lengths people went to annoy him, to try to kill him and in a few cases attempt to blow up his house with him and his family in it. The media fueled the fire even more, some saying openly (like Glenn Beck did) that they wanted Michael Moore dead. The tales of his ex-special forces guards, his encounters with the public are a fascinating glimpse into a time when people still thought the Iraq War was going to last a few weeks, when people still thought the Iraq war was justified and when people still thought Michael Moore was wrong to say what he did at the Academy Awards. All that would change in years to come, but it was very interesting to get a glimpse into the life of Michael Moore for a few years after he made that speech."
Worse than the public’s reaction to his Academy Award speech was the reaction of the mainstream media and the corporations who own it. Disney Corporation went as far as to try to stop the release of his next film, Farenheit 911, which they failed to do. If nothing, this Michael Moore guy is persistent.
I found the auto-biography to be a little bit too preachy. Some of the chapters in this book could be renamed “The Story of Why Discriminating Against Homosexuals Is Bad”, “The Story of Why Discriminating Against Black People Is Bad”, “The Story Of How I Was Right When I Gave My Academy Award Speech”, “The Story of Why Abortions Should Be Legal” etc. It seems he may have thrown everything into this auto-biography plus the kitchen sink in order to flesh out his views on life. Some of the stories just seem like fables, to the point where I began to doubt they were actual events in his life. Regardless, the fable-like stories sprinkled throughout the book are entertaining, including his tale of protesting Reagan’s visit to a Nazi cemetery to lay a wreath and his phone conversation with John Lennon.
There was a time when people thought Michael Moore was absolutely nuts. Like when his newspaper chronicled how General Motors had used Government tax money to help it move jobs to Mexico. How General Motors had disassembled an entire assembly line and loaded it onto a train to be later shipped to China. “what on Earth would China do with an automobile assembly line? Michael Moore is NUTS!”. Those people don’t think of him as “crazy” any more.
The book ends with his telling of what drove him to documentary film making, and it’s quite the tale.
Think what you will of Michael Moore, this book which covers his life up until the opening of night of “Roger and Me”, his first film, is a very entertaining read. The timeline is perfect, as everyone knows a bit about Michael Moore the filmmaker. This book is truly his story up until that first movie hit the silver screen.
Kevin Rafferty, one of the cinematographers on the film’s mom is Barbara Bush’s sister. The Bush family requested a copy of “Roger and Me” to watch at a family gathering at Camp David. As George Bush junior sat in the group laughing his head off, I’m sure one of the people in the room, though admiring their cousin Kevin’s camera work must have been thinking to themselves about Michael Moore: Here Comes Trouble.
Join us for our Book Guys Show at http://www.bookguys.ca/recentepisodes
Well, there was that one time at the Toronto International Film Festival when I was attending the Borat Premiere (The Book Guy is also a movie guy). The projector broke down just as the film was a few minutes in. Larry Charles and Sascha Baron Cohen took to the stage and Sascha was really funny (at the time he was still promoting the movie and in full Borat costume and mustache). Borat said from the pulpit something about Canadian projector technology being very similar to that of Khazakstan. Then I noticed a big guy with an entourage had arrived at the balcony where I was seated and was heading for the projector room, passing by my seat. It was Michael Moore. The man had gone all the way up to the projector room with his entourage (who through reading this book I realize now must have been ex-special forces security guards) and was trying his darndest to fix the damn thing. Unfortunately a part had broken and Michael was unable to save the day, but the very fact that he tried made him okay in my books. That’s all I knew about Michael Moore really before reading his auto-biography.
To be honest, I was not expecting an entertaining read. Boy was I wrong.
Early on in the book, he discusses his appearance at the Academy Awards on March 23, 2003. Four nights earlier George W Bush had taken America into a war with Iraq. That night, Michael Moore won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. He had asked all the best documentary nominees to join him on stage if he won, and most of them did. As he took his statue he gave his now infamous speech:
" I’ve invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us. They are here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction, yet we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where we have ficticious election results that elect a ficticious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for ficticious reasons. Whether it’s the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts; we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you! And anytime you’ve got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up! Thank you very much!
I rememberd this Academy Awards and how quickly Michael Moore was booed off the stage. Michael goes on to tell about the security nightmare he suffered after this. I was amazed at the lengths people went to annoy him, to try to kill him and in a few cases attempt to blow up his house with him and his family in it. The media fueled the fire even more, some saying openly (like Glenn Beck did) that they wanted Michael Moore dead. The tales of his ex-special forces guards, his encounters with the public are a fascinating glimpse into a time when people still thought the Iraq War was going to last a few weeks, when people still thought the Iraq war was justified and when people still thought Michael Moore was wrong to say what he did at the Academy Awards. All that would change in years to come, but it was very interesting to get a glimpse into the life of Michael Moore for a few years after he made that speech."
Worse than the public’s reaction to his Academy Award speech was the reaction of the mainstream media and the corporations who own it. Disney Corporation went as far as to try to stop the release of his next film, Farenheit 911, which they failed to do. If nothing, this Michael Moore guy is persistent.
I found the auto-biography to be a little bit too preachy. Some of the chapters in this book could be renamed “The Story of Why Discriminating Against Homosexuals Is Bad”, “The Story of Why Discriminating Against Black People Is Bad”, “The Story Of How I Was Right When I Gave My Academy Award Speech”, “The Story of Why Abortions Should Be Legal” etc. It seems he may have thrown everything into this auto-biography plus the kitchen sink in order to flesh out his views on life. Some of the stories just seem like fables, to the point where I began to doubt they were actual events in his life. Regardless, the fable-like stories sprinkled throughout the book are entertaining, including his tale of protesting Reagan’s visit to a Nazi cemetery to lay a wreath and his phone conversation with John Lennon.
There was a time when people thought Michael Moore was absolutely nuts. Like when his newspaper chronicled how General Motors had used Government tax money to help it move jobs to Mexico. How General Motors had disassembled an entire assembly line and loaded it onto a train to be later shipped to China. “what on Earth would China do with an automobile assembly line? Michael Moore is NUTS!”. Those people don’t think of him as “crazy” any more.
The book ends with his telling of what drove him to documentary film making, and it’s quite the tale.
Think what you will of Michael Moore, this book which covers his life up until the opening of night of “Roger and Me”, his first film, is a very entertaining read. The timeline is perfect, as everyone knows a bit about Michael Moore the filmmaker. This book is truly his story up until that first movie hit the silver screen.
Kevin Rafferty, one of the cinematographers on the film’s mom is Barbara Bush’s sister. The Bush family requested a copy of “Roger and Me” to watch at a family gathering at Camp David. As George Bush junior sat in the group laughing his head off, I’m sure one of the people in the room, though admiring their cousin Kevin’s camera work must have been thinking to themselves about Michael Moore: Here Comes Trouble.
Join us for our Book Guys Show at http://www.bookguys.ca/recentepisodes
September 8, 2023
I listened to the audio narrated by Michael Moore, himself. I thought I knew who Michael Moore was - an outspoken activist and an award-winning documentarian - but there is SO MUCH MORE to Michael Moore!
HERE COMES TROUBLE is an immensely entertaining compilation of memoirs written in several short stories spanning his childhood and adult years. At times horrifying and upsetting, while at other times comical and endearing.
Michael Moore’s parents were as devout to their religion as they were to democracy. At an early age, he became civically engaged in local politics and always questioned things that didn’t seem fair.
I’m so glad I chose to listen to Moore’s memoirs! It made me laugh, cry, and think about my own civic engagement.
HERE COMES TROUBLE is an immensely entertaining compilation of memoirs written in several short stories spanning his childhood and adult years. At times horrifying and upsetting, while at other times comical and endearing.
Michael Moore’s parents were as devout to their religion as they were to democracy. At an early age, he became civically engaged in local politics and always questioned things that didn’t seem fair.
I’m so glad I chose to listen to Moore’s memoirs! It made me laugh, cry, and think about my own civic engagement.
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