I need to clarify my three-star rating. This book is simply a collection of the "Still Bushed," "Worst Persons," "Quick Comments," and "Special Comments" from Countdown on MSNBC for the year and a half following the 2008 election. If you are a regular watcher of this show, this book will be more a trip down memory lane rather than anything new. It can still be an interesting read, but ultimately it was just a rehash of what I had already watched before. Hence the three-star rating. This is probably mostly geared towards diehard fans or people who had not watched these shows before. Just be warned. ( )

Another stellar volume by Mister Olbermann, including some monumental Special Comments on such topics as Prop 8 and gay marriage. I hope he brings back the Worst Persons segment soon! ( )

I was pretty surprised as I started into this book. There’s no intro, no lead-in by Keith Olbermann about why he chose the selections he did. There’s no “setting of the stage” – which might not matter right now in 2010 when the people and events that he comments on are still pretty fresh in everyone’s mind…but down the road, readers might need a bit of prompting to remember the people, events and/or state of affairs from November 2008 to April 2010.

And given that there is no additional material in “Pitchforks and Torches” other that that which has been broadcast before – I wonder about to whom this book might be targeted. If it’s to people like me, who watches/listens to “Countdown” on a regular basis (thank goodness for satellite radio!) – then we totally agree with and appreciate Olbermann’s words – but we’ve heard most of them before. If it’s for people who DON’T tune into his show – sad to say – there’s very little chance of them picking up his book. (Hands full with pitchforks and torches and all…)

Because I agree so strongly with Olbermann on so many things – it’s hard for me to write this review. But as a reader, I was left disappointed. His “Special Comments” are masterfully, and at times, beautifully written, and are delivered with such passion that they are impossible to turn away from. But they lose a bit on the printed page – and again – having heard them before – are not enhanced by any sort of sidebar comment by the author – any “Special Features”, if you will.

(And piled on top of one another, the Worst Person in the World make me despair yet again for our country.)

That being said, some of the sheer perfection in his comments deserve recognition. In “A Question of Love” regarding California’s horrible Prop 8: “With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against each other for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do? With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live in favor of unhappiness and hate, this is what your heart tells you to do?”

And in “10,000 Men Fell” regarding the long overdue passing of health care reform: “The Belgian Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck once wrote that, “at every cross-roads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.” Last night those 10,000 men fell.”

Amazing and awe inspiring words. Olbermann is insanely smart, crazily well-spoken, and I hope upon hope that he never reads this review. I admire him immensely and I applaud his dedication (especially regarding free health care clinics) and passion – and my heart goes out to him for what he has experienced over the past years with his mother and father. As a reader who eagerly chose and read this book, though, I was left wanting more. His voice and his words are so strong, that as satisfying as they may be in the repetition, this book leaves me wanting new reflections on the past and new insight to the future. ( )