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In a typical Los Angeles strip mall, brothers Teddy and Ralph run a detective agency. Their one employee, the meticulous, thrifty Ms. Beauchamp, is a research wizard with a talent for searching microfiche records. Teddy is an empathetic soul who wishes to do good in the world, while Ralph is a quick-tempered hothead whose first inclination in a perilous situation is to use his fists. When the Lint Detective Agency is visited by a man claiming to be a CIA operative (and accompanied by Tom Hanks), they begin a journey that takes them into the bizarre world of radical fringe groups. Their task is to find a long-missing shipping container filled with radioactive Agent Orange or Royal Jelly—the deadly herbicide used to defoliate sections of Vietnam. The brothers begin the search for its location and discover some appalling truths about the world.
This brilliant, funny, and witty satire offers a hard-hitting look at how propaganda is used in the modern world. Using Edward Bernays’ 1920 controversial treatise Propaganda, which touts the use of propaganda on unsuspecting and vulnerable citizens, Canning sets up the crux of his satire—the inconspicuous role of propaganda in society and politics. In the search for the shipping container, the brothers infiltrate groups like the Sisters in Sync, purporting a woman-led government, and The West Company, an ad agency whose agenda is to establish control over America through an invisible government by appealing to “emotion over intellect, bias over information.” Canning is a master at creating quirky characters entrenched in idiosyncratic situations. The book not only offers numerous laugh-out-loud situations but gives readers much to contemplate concerning the way Americans interact with information. There’s a lot to dissect here, but the author makes it downright fun. It is a delightful, not-to-be-missed dive into the all-encompassing use of propaganda.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review