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Title: Shake hands with Barry Crimmins
Review: Crimmins' satire can lacerate like razor wire. It's also laugh-out-loud funny. His comments on the current White House administration, and Conservatives of nearly any ilk, are biting and savagely witty. But even those who don't subscribe to the author's partisan ideology should be impressed by several thoughtful essays in this book - ruminations on his hometown near the Finger Lakes, a eulogy for a cancer-stricken friend, his fond memories as founder of the Boston comedy scene circa 1979, his introspective examination of how annual copious snowfall in Central New York state creates hearty skeptics, an encounter with a lost boy and a Good Samaritan. These essays and others show that the author is more than just a political animal. He's also a keen observer of the human condition (a hallmark trait of any fine satirist). Mainly, though, the book focuses on Crimmins' high-principled views, which are insightful, unapologetic, and often very funny.
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