The Call of the Weird - by Louis Theroux (Paperback)

Number of Pages: 288
Genre: Social Science
Sub-Genre: Popular Culture
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Age Range: Adult
Author: Louis Theroux
Language: English

About the Book

"For a decade now, Louis Theroux has been making programs about offbeat characters on the fringes of U.S. society. Now he revisits the people who have most intrigued him to try to discover what motivates them, and why they believe the things they believe. From his Las Vegas base (where else?), Theroux calls on these assorted dreamers, schemers, and outlaws--and in the process finds out a little about the workings of his own mind"--Amazon.com.

Book Synopsis

No, it doesn't get much weirder than this: Thor Templar, Lord Commander of the Earth Protectorate, who claims to have killed ten aliens. Or April, the Neo-Nazi bringing up her twin daughters Lamb and Lynx (who have just formed a white-power folk group for kids called Prussian Blue), and her youngest daughter, Dresden. For a decade now, Louis Theroux has been making programs about offbeat characters on the fringes of U.S. society. Now he revisits the people who have most intrigued him to try to discover what motivates them, and why they believe the things they believe. From his Las Vegas base (where else?), Theroux calls on these assorted dreamers, schemers, and outlaws--and in the process finds out a little about the workings of his own mind. What does it mean, after all, to be weird, or to be yourself? Do we choose our beliefs or do our beliefs choose us? And is there something particularly weird about Americans? America, prepare yourself for a hilarious look in the mirror that has already taken the rest of the English-speaking world by storm: Paul Theroux's son writes with just as clear an eye for character and place as his father . . . And he's funny . . .Theroux's final analysis of American weirdness is true and new. -- Literary Review (England)

Review Quotes

Curled Up with a Good Book, 8/08
"It's a fun read, but even more so, it's an interesting one. You'll have trouble putting it down...Theroux presents the humanity in his subjects without necessarily sympathizing with them, walking the fine line between their extreme views and the normalcy of everyday life... Alternately funny and disturbing...An excellent read."

"Deseret News," 5/30/08
"If you're after weird, this is the right book."

"Tucson Citizen," 6/5/08
"Is there something particularly weird about Americans? Louis Theroux, the king of offbeat documentaries, searches for the answer while mixing it up with an assortment of some of our more colorful natives."

"Paul Theroux's son writes with just as clear an eye for character and place as his father.... And he's funny.... Theroux's final analysis of American weirdness is true and new."

About the Author

Louis Theroux has written for Spy, worked on Michael Moore's Emmy-winning TV Nation, and hosted his own award-winning television series Weird Weekends and When Louis Met . . . This is his first book He lives in London.