Former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor Ventura (Do I Stand Alone?
) has been awakened out of semiretirement by his outrage over the grievous state of the country and his need to once again exercise his enormous ego by rehashing events from his life and political career. He holds forth in his typical blunt, anti-intellectual style on a range of topics including the Rolling Stones, Fidel Castro and 9/11 conspiracy theories. His diatribes are loosely linked to a travelogue as Ventura and his wife drive to Baja California in their truck-camper. Excerpts from interviews and his wife’s diaries provide a welcome break from Ventura’s boorish tone (although his anecdotes—particularly one involving the Dalai Lama and the film Caddyshack
—are occasionally amusing). The book concludes with Ventura combining his three passions: wrestling, politics and self-adulation when he imagines running for President on a WWE ticket. Whether the reader will find that a horrifying fantasy or a hilarious one will largely determine how they feel about this book. (May)
