Kick Ass: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen - Softcover

Hiaasen, Carl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813034299 ISBN 13: 9780813034294

Publisher: University Press of Florida, 2009

Synopsis

"You just cover a lot of territory and you do it aggressively and you do it fairly and you don't play favorite sand you don't take any prisoners. It's the old school of slash-and-burn metropolitan column writing. You just kick ass. That's what you do. And that's what they pay you to do.--Carl Hiaasen

Praise for Kick Ass

"Readers who know Hiaasen only from his bestselling crime novels will find that this collection of columns from the Miami Herald showcases the same voice singing in a different key . . . He writes with an old-time columnist's sense of righteous rage and an utterly current and biting wit."--Publishers Weekly

"Reveals an angry, alert civic muckraker in the pugilistic vein of Mencken or Royko. . . . Hiaasen cut his teeth as an investigative reporter, and this spirit is strong in both his chosen subjects and his wry attention to unforgiving evidentiary detail. . . . Deeply satisfying."--Kirkus Reviews

"Reminiscent of the snarky, opinionated newspaper articles of the great Mark Twain, Hiaasen's columns are finely crafted little gems."--Booklist

"Shows you that Hiaasen's seemingly implausible fictional premises aren't really far-fetched at all. He just knows Florida."--Playboy

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Readers who eagerly anticipate each new Carl Hiaasen novel will relish this selection of his Miami Herald columns, written with the same dark humor and satirical edge as Tourist Season, Strip Tease, Stormy Weather, . and the rest of Hiaasen's brilliant and nationally acclaimed fiction. Known for evoking the disastrously flawed paradise of modern South Florida, Hiaasen proves in these columns that facts can indeed be stranger than the fiction they inspire.

Beginning with "Welcome to South Florida", a chapter full of such everyday events as animal sacrifice, riots at the beach, and a shootout over limes at the supermarket, this collection organizes more than 200 columns into 18 chapters, chronicling the events and defining the issues that have kept the South Florida melting pot bubbling throughout the eighties and nineties. An introductory essay provides an overview of Hiaasen's career and outlines his principal concerns as a journalist.

Since its inception in 1985, Hiaasen's twice-weekly "baseball-bat-to-the-forehead" column has become enormously popular for its passionate conviction and willingness to confront powerful interests in pursuit of the public good. Amid the corruption and chaos of a city on the edge, Hiaasen's pointblank honesty and clear articulation of what's right have secured him wide respect across the community's many racial and ethnic divides as well as the admiration of his peers, who compare him to A.J. Leibling, I.F. Stone, and H.L. Mencken.

In addition to South Florida color and world-class journalism, readers of Kick Ass will find one of Florida's staunchest defenders in action, and they'll take great pleasure in watching him work.

From the Back Cover:

"Readers who eagerly anticipate each new Carl Hiaasen novel will relish this selection of his Miami Herald columns, written with the same dark humor and satirical edge as Tourist Season, Strip Tease, Stormy Weather, and the rest of Hiaasen's fiction. Known for evoking the disastrously flawed paradise of modern South Florida, Hiaasen proves in these columns that facts can indeed be stranger than the fiction they inspire."--BOOK JACKET. "Beginning with "Welcome to South Florida, " a chapter full of such everyday events as animal sacrifice, riots at the beach, and a shootout over limes at the supermarket, this collection organizes more than 200 columns into 18 chapters, chronicling the events and defining the issues that have kept the South Florida melting pot bubbling throughout the eighties and nineties. An introductory essay provides an overview of Hiaasen's career and outlines his principal concerns as a journalist."--BOOK JACKET.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0813034299
• ISBN 13: 9780813034294
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 474
• Editor: Stevenson Diane