Broadsides: Reviews and Opinions

Greg Turko is a policy analyst at the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and
Universities.

This collection by Richler has a broadside for virtually every taste or
grudge—including the Prime Minister, with his 15 percent popularity
rating (plus or minus, as pollsters always caution).

Richler’s topics range from the esoteric (witches and wiccans) to the
paranoid (the conspiracy-theory crowd) to the plaintive (impotence).
Various individuals are also singled out for their often-dubious, or
otherwise noteworthy, contributions to any number of human pursuits. All
19 essays are amusing and perceptive—if somewhat biased—and have
sufficient bite to assure readers that their targets had it coming.

Some of the essays, such as those dealing with Barbara Hutton and with
the David Begelman affair, are dated, while others, dealing with
Hollywood greats Samuel Goldwyn and Darryl F. Zanuck, are more
historical.

These essays have all been previously published (“often in a somewhat
different form”) in various magazines and journals. Still, for people
with any-sized chips on their shoulders, having all this material in one
place is worthwhile.