MixedThe Washington PostI was not quite midway through Charlie LeDuff\'s Sh*tshow when I realized it was...a punk-rock look at modern America and the toxic media circus described by the title ... LeDuff\'s gonzo reporting is nothing if not braggadocious, intent on establishing the author\'s first-person street-and-barroom cred. Throughout Sh*tshow! LeDuff faces off with rent-a-cops and real ones, sleeps on the floor of fleabags, eats wild-rabbit stew with Wonder Bread and margarine ... LeDuff\'s episodes range from brilliant storytelling to pointless ... Too often LeDuff is there and gone. So Sh*tshow! begins to feel thin, even when you\'re pretty sure he\'s nailing it. America has some deep stories to tell right now, but LeDuff\'s approach can feel as distracted as the Twitterverse ... Sh*tshow! is a book for our time—quick, raging, easily devoured, prone to populist formulations. It can be exhilarating for the originality of its take on where we are, and then it can dump on us fluffy, pompous pronouncements that feel way too easy.
Charlie Leduff
PanThe Chicago Tribune\"LeDuff\'s gonzo reporting is nothing if not braggadocious, intent on establishing the author\'s first-person street-and-barroom cred. Throughout Sh*tshow!, LeDuff faces off with rent-a-cops and real ones, sleeps on the floor of fleabags, eats wild-rabbit stew with Wonder Bread and margarine ... LeDuff\'s episodes range from brilliant storytelling to pointless ... if you\'ve read this far, you probably know not to open Sh*tshow! expecting Brookings Institution nuance. This is kick-in-the-crotch storytelling, and a good part of the time it works.\
Francisco Cantú
PositiveThe Boston Globe\"...[a] powerful and timely memoir ... Cantú’s writing is spare, graceful, and full of the details that propel a good story ... Much appreciated is his ability to explain the complexities of his former job without demonizing those who do it ... Cantú interrupts occasionally to bring in the perspective of academics to illuminate his experience. These interludes often feel unnatural, interrupting a gripping human tale. His life on the line has made him the kind of expert we need to hear from.\
