Of Thee I Zing

America's Cultural Decline from Muffin Tops to Body Shots

By: Laura Ingraham

Narrated by: Laura Ingraham, Raymond Arroyo

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

While Laura Ingraham was walking through a Northern Virginia shopping mall one Saturday afternoon, it all became clear to her. Everywhere she turned, she saw signs of the impending disaster: zombie teens texting each other across a café table; a man having his eyebrows threaded at a kiosk; a 50ish woman shoe-horned into a tube top and skinny jeans; and a storefront ad featuring a Victoria's Secret model spilling out of her push-up bra and into the faces of young passersby. Ingraham wondered to herself, "Is this it? Is this what our forefathers fought for? What my parents struggled for? I wonder if Victoria's Secret is still having that two-for-one sale?"

A menacing force surrounds us. We see it, we feel it, we know it. The country we love is in grave peril. While politicians and "experts" prattle on about the debt crisis at home, and terrorism abroad, a more insidious homegrown threat is emerging. It endangers our future and undermines our present. The uncomfortable truth: We have become our own worst enemy. The culture we have created is now turning on us. We're on the verge of drowning in our ignorance, arrogance, gluttony… can you believe there are only three shots of vanilla in a Caramel Macchiato?!?

Now, in an act of patriotic intervention, the most-listened-to woman in talk radio casts her satirical eye upon all that ails American society. In this sharp-witted, comic romp, Laura Ingraham takes you on a guided tour through 10 levels of our cultural hell.

You know we're in trouble when:

• Airplane seats shrink - just as the passengers expand.
• Celebrity baby names go from the peculiar (Apple, Stetson, and Daisy Boo) to the pathetic (Bamboo, Blanket, and Bronx).
• People meticulously tend their virtual crops on Farmville, while their children eat takeout.
• "Breaking News" usually means it happened yesterday.
• The weddings last longer than the marriages.
• Facebook has become a verb and reading has become an ancient art form.

Of Thee I Zing is cultural commentary too funny to ignore, igniting a national conversation long past due. America, your cultural recovery begins here.

©2011 Laura Ingraham (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Right on Target

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this very accurate description of today's social activities here in the United States.

Ingraham nails it and says what we all know to be true, but because of our newly found position of "always being politically correct in what we say aloud" we don't dare utter these things where others can hear.

On the up side: I love her honesty.

On the down side: To me, and I might be the only listener who says it, I found the male speaker, Raymond Arroyo, that introduces the next main topic during the audio, to be very distracting to the overall flow.

I do guarantee that you will bust out laughing at her comments because they strike a real nerve in all of us. Great Job Laura.

Right on sister!

What did you love best about Of Thee I Zing?

The specifics about our cultures decline with very simplistics descriptions. I see it all the time.

What does Laura Ingraham and Raymond Arroyo bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The passion of the situations.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

Pay attention to the people in your own home because the cultural drain comes in the home in many ways. It is amazing!

Any additional comments?

After listening to the audiobook; I observed a 16 yearold youngman in a 7/11 run out to his car a dime when 3 of us in the line offerred it up. The kid came back in and said, are you all waiting on me...I stated outloud that we were just waiting for him to pull his pants up above his hips. The youngman quickly corrected his pants amd stared straight into my eyes and I said, thank you. He responded politely, you are welcome and then he walked off. The lady in front of me said that she appreciated someone standing up to him. I jokingly said, he knows that I am a former Marine and will not stand for that sort of behavior. She said, how did he know that...it was him looking in my eyes and seeing discipline from within me that he saw. We all snickered and left the store.

It has its moments, but not Laura's best work

After The Obama Diaries, I think I had higher expectations. This book started out strong, but lapsed into a long whiney rant after the first couple of chapters. I love Laura, but she's done better.

Obnoxious and angry rant

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I like Laura Ingram but this book makes her seem angry and hostile.

Has Of Thee I Zing turned you off from other books in this genre?

I will not be listening to Laura Ingram's books in the future.

What character would you cut from Of Thee I Zing?

Laura Ingram

Any additional comments?

Don't waste your money.

Not funny

Well... the recording is horrible very hard to listen particularly for the noise and eco.

The author has a mayor ax to grind against... EVERYTHING and everybody... the political comments should be kept out... while I agree with a lot of the "I hate this... I hate that..." the book is apparently a long list of things that the writer dislike and does not offer a constructive critique.

COULDN'T FINISH IT

What disappointed you about Of Thee I Zing?

I love Laura Ingraham, but she lost me with her microscopic focus on kids and parents at the beginning of the book. I could handle a chapter on this topic, but it was wave after wave of ranting about kids birthday parties and diaper changes and I just couldn't take it anymore.

A Zing for Laura!

I was very disappointed in this book. It amounts to a few hours of random criticisms of virtually everyone that Laura runs into. I pity her friends, acquaintances and casual contacts as they all seem to have been savaged in this book.

Her recollection of a Tony Robbins "dream" she claims to have had sounds suspiciously like a clip from a "Family Guy" episode. I felt that Laura decided she could "whip out" a book by documenting her countless critical thoughts as she plowed through her busy daily life and that the words, by virtue of deriving from her brilliant observations, would be a best seller.

For someone who frequently rails against the "Elites" in our culture, her recounting of her daily interactions indicated to me that she seems to socialize with them on a regular basis (at least she did before this book was published).

As a fellow Christian I have heard Laura speak of her conversion to Catholicism later in life. I agree often with her observations of how religion and religious people are portrayed in the popular culture However, just as a reformed smoker can become annoying with his or her anti-smoking zealousness, I found her criticisms of other attendees at her own church ("the two times a year crowd") as offensive and unnecessary. One does not have to appear in a church pew to express one's faith in God or to believe in and try to live by its teachings. During my lifetime I have witnessed many regular church attendees who's primary function on Sunday seemed to be to gossip about someone's clothing choices or some other distinctly critical comments. Her criticisms of fellow parishioners during the "Sign of Peace" ceremony just blew me away for their poor taste. I listened to some parts of the book with my 20 year old daughter and I found myself turning it off at various points because it was so overly critical.

Laura is an amazing woman with a humble background (as was mine) but this book just reeks of arrogance. You owe your fans an apology

Yuck

What disappointed you about Of Thee I Zing?

Hours of ranting considered publishable materials?

What didn’t you like about Laura Ingraham and Raymond Arroyo ’s performance?

Performance was reasonable, content was awful.

What character would you cut from Of Thee I Zing?

Non fiction so there were no characters