Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto

Love him or loathe him, veteran rocker, commentator, and neo-libertarian rabble-rouser conservationist Nugent is hard to ignore. His ""manifesto,"" a collection of essays and ruminations, will prove bracing but familiar to those acquainted with his antic, aggressive voice-in-the-wilderness style and often controversial stances on hot-button issues like gun control, welfare and self-reliance. Among loud, provocative analysis of a dozen issues (plus a chapter devoted to his last essay collection, 2001's God, Guns & Rock and Roll), Nugent puts together an ""If I were president"" list that includes eliminating welfare except for military personnel, making prisoners plant trees, forcing people in New Orleans live on higher ground and executing child molesters. While many of his suggestions-meant to ""piss you off"" as well as think-are pat, or even curmudgeonly (""I am convinced that most kids today have never heard the word 'posture'""), they're balanced by common sense and a healthy respect for the Golden Rule. Longtime fans will revel in Nugent's loudmouth charm and his rhapsodic take on discovering the guitar; whether he'll persuade newcomers that global warming is ""the greatest hoax ever played on Americans,"" or that he himself is ""a large, in charge, ruggedly independent, angry black man"" is doubtful, but this maverick never claimed to be a uniter.