What's the Matter with California?: Cultural Rumbles from the Golden State and Why the Rest of Us Should Be Shaking

A whimsical response to the best-selling What's the Matter with Kansas? casts a skeptical eye on the nation's most liberal and populous state, in an anecdotal survey that likens California to an American Rome of over-indulgence and over-regulation that fails to meet its ideals.

Cashill declares that California served as a beachhead in the humanistic war on faith, but his argument reads more like a series of familiar right-wing talking points slapped on California. Showing little interest in one of the country's most dynamic population centers, he launches bold attacks on notorious Californians like Charles Manson and Jim Jones. He sidesteps the global influence of Silicon Valley and in his discussion of Hollywood focuses mostly on a few movies he dislikes. That these influential industries might owe something to Californian rootlessness doesn't occur to Cashill. In many cases he bases his points on anecdotal evidence, such as that he did not see any U.S. flags in San Francisco's gay district. The book often rambles, diluting the crankiness that might otherwise distinguish Cashill. The intended audience of liberal bashers may miss Ann Coulter's wit. (Oct.)
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