In Persuasion Nation - George Saunders

A collection of short stories by the author of "Civil War Land in Bad Decline".
Saunders has apparently been called the new Vonnegut, which I didn't see at all in "Civil War..." - yes, a social satirist, but with a more gothic, less whimsical tone. In this book, "In Persuasion Nation"  I can now see why he has been called a new Vonnegut.  In this book, he has the same biting social satire as his previous book and Vonnegut's work too.  But in this book, there is something of the madhouse, absurdist, surreal elements of Vonnegut's work.  Saunders is funny, absurd - you laugh, but it is still a darker laughter than with  Vonnegut.
This book by Saunders focuses on a narrow aspect of American society - the culture of television, advertising, materialism corporate America.  A few of the stories have some different themes, but most of the book is absurdist extensions of American consumer culture.

Quote from an imaginary text, "Taskbook for the New Nation"
They will attempt to insinuate themselves into the very fabric of our emotional lives, demanding the dissolution of the distinction between beloved and enemy, friend and foe, neighbour and stranger.  The will, citing equality, deny our right to make critical moral distinctions.  Crying peace, they will deny our right to defend, in whatever manner most expedient, the beloved.  Under the guise of impariality, they will demand we disavow all notions of tradition, family, friends, tribe, and even nation.  But we are animals, forced to look blankly upon the rich variety of life, disallowed the privilege of making moral distinctions, dead to love, forbidden from preferring this to that?


From the story, "Brad Carrigan, American"
- after three corpses in the backyard had explained the complex shifting allegiances and economic forces between three tribal groups, which ultimately ended with their death and the extinction of one tribe...
"Wow," says Brad.  " That's so complicated."
"Not that complicated," says the corpse who died fending off blows.  
"It might seem complicated, if the person trying to understand it had lived in total plenty all of his life, ignoring the rest of the world," says the corpse missing an arm...
"I agree," says the corpse who died fending off blows.  "We know all about his country.  I know who Casey Stengel was.  I can quote at length from Thomas Paine."
"Who?" says Brad.