Humorously enough, my wife picked this out for me at local bookstore. She was spot on; as soon as I saw the cover I knew I wanted to read it. Now that I'm done with it I have mixed feelings. The collection overall was pretty good, and definitely worth the (relatively short) time it took to read it; but that being said, for all it did well, it felt like this collection could have done more. Another note: the collection presents itself as "Politically Inspired Erotica." There's an endless debate a...

This anthology is a collection of 23 short pieces of fiction by modern writers. Their common theme is sex and politics. The sex is explicit, sometimes outrageous; the viewpoint is left, antiwar, mostly radical. Some pieces are simply hilarious broad-brush spoofs, almost slapstick; some are a witty blend of sex and politics; some are disturbing, enigmatic, violent; there are even a few comic strips. Interspersed are numerous nuggets like: "This was America, something San Francisco was not involve...

Some of these stories are funny, some are thought-provoking and yet some make me extremely uncomfortable. Extremely.

Sex and the CountryReview by By HILLARY JOHNSONThe idea of treating American politics as subject matter for erotica tickles the funny bone more than it does any other organ. And Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica, edited by novelist, activist and political writer Stephen Elliott, succeeds best where it is ribald and edgy.The opening salvo, Jerry Stahl’s “L’il Dickens,” is a gleeful fantasy in which a hapless narrator finds himself seduced in the back room of a gun shop by a randy Dick...

Raunchy, dirty, very explicit. I was pleased by the range of sexualities, genders, bodies, and perspectives in this book. It follows a frenetic beat, as if the contributors struggle to convey the desperation of a nation fucking under the rule of Dubya. I wish there had been less rape in the book, because rape is about power, not sex--but I can see how it has its place in this book. Was definitely a fun read during rides on public transportation in Washington, DC.

The first story in this book - about Dick Cheney - is pure genius. The rest of the book? Meh.

Let's get one thing out of the way up front — this is not erotica. Despite what the title implies, most of the sex in this book is no more plentiful or explicit than many "regular" novels I've read. In more than one instance, the sex relies too much on violence, and unless you get off on that, there is little satisfying material.By deeming the stories "politically inspired," I suppose the argument could be made that each story explore the way in which the last Bush administration did seem to get...

Mostly good stories about sex informed by politics, ranging from one about a fourteen-year old who gets invited to a party with a city councilman to a really gruesome story about a Desert Storm marine rapist called the Ether Fairy. It starts with someone sodomizing Dick Cheney and ends with Jenna Bush naked on a beach. A couple of stories are so-so and only one (the one about a couple canvassing on the phone) made me want to strangle someone, so that's something.I'm putting my long review on my

Mediocre story collection w. one great story--the one about diamonds and holes?

This collection bills itself as Politically Inspired Erotica. However, having read it, I am really forced to question whether it was actually political, erotic, or even remotely inspired. My vote would be “none of the above.” It definitely wasn’t erotic—there was absolutely nothing I would consider sexy in any of these stories. There is, however, an awful lot of rape. Almost every single story contains rape—often brutal, bloody, anal rape. Um. That is not hot. Even Paris Hilton doesn’t think tha...

haha, super funny short stories by all sorts of people. satire erotica involving political fantasies, good as a coffee table book as long as you put it away before your parents come over. first line of the book:'i did not mean to sodomize dick cheney."

I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up “Sex For America,” a collection of politically inspired erotica. Now that I’ve read it, I’m still not sure how to describe the 24 stories editor Stephen Elliot has put together, but can tell you that it is a fantastic journey through our current political landscape.You’ll find plenty straight up erotica sandwiched between smart political commentary and a frightening look inside the mind of a serial rapist in the military. Each tale varies greatly, as...

This is a hoot. Ran into Elliott when Salon did a review of his recent "My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up," which is one of the best recent books on the whole BDSM world I've seen. (Not that there's much competition.) This is a collection of generally fun short stories that take place in the sometimes neglected but almost always (in our still overly repressed and weird culture) overlapping worlds of non-missionary sex and politics. The piece that most stands out in my mind, a few m...

i honestly don't think i have words to describe this book. i thought it was good overall, but maybe that is because it was all about sex ;)

I only read the book because I have a story in it so I read the galleys-and it was hard to stop. I mean: what can Rick Moody write about sex and/or politics? Or-what can someone named Mistress Morgana write about it, and how much fun can it be? And James Frey-after all the mess, what's left? See what I mean?Frankly, I'm embarrassed about the sex in my story, but when you write for an anthology called "Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica" you can't avoid it. In short: it's good and it's...

My favorite story in this book was "An Open Letter to the Bush Administration," which was hilarious enough that I read it aloud to a friend. The other tales were sometimes disturbing, sometimes entertaining, and mostly not arousing.

Hilarious... I sort of want to own a physical copy of it now.

"Sex for America" explores the intersection of our desires and our political beliefs, and how the two are irrevocably connected. One of those sentences that sounds OK, provided you don't stop to ask yourself what it might actually mean. Based on the relatively lame collection of "erotica" in this book, the meaning seems to be that some people find politics a turn-on. As a unifying concept, it's pretty lame, and one can only imagine the meeting of minds which came up with the idea that this book