The Witches Are Coming

Cultural critic West (Shrill) focuses her keen eye and sardonic sense of humor on, among other topics, misogyny in the Trumpian political landscape; the backlash to the #MeToo movement; and Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand, Goop. The book’s title is a call to action against men who defensively label #MeToo a “witch hunt”; West gleefully declares, “We’re witches, and we’re hunting you.” In “Ted Bundy Was Not Charming—Are You High?” she notes that even serial killers and con artists receive the “institutional benefit of the doubt” afforded to straight white men, yet female political candidates such as Elizabeth Warren are held to an impossible standard of “likability.” In subsequent essays, West takes South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to task for promoting the “human-extinction-level dangerous” notion that the far right and the far left are equally stupid, and admonishes comedians Adam Corolla and Louis C.K. for relying on offensive jokes and pandering to conservatives. Some of West’s targets (Goop’s “resident shaman”; Ivanka Trump’s recipe for success: “Love what you do, and work really, really hard”) are a little easy, and she’s preaching to the choir on issues such as sexism and climate change. Though this is a different kind of book than the more personal Shrill, fans of West’s trademark wit and sharp tongue will be satisfied. (Nov.)