Good Villains

 

Good Villains by Shane Cashman
9/1/26; 312 pages
Skyhorse 

Good Villains by Shane Cashman is a highly recommended collection of fourteen news stories/essays, following an introduction. In the essays Cashman presents his personal journey along with a cultural investigation of various personalities. As with any collection of essays, some will resonate and interest readers more than others. As Bret Easton Ellis said, “Cashman will infuriate, delight, and offend just about everybody.”  Keep in mind the full title is: Good Villains: My Journey to the Frontlines of Fame, Controversy, and the War on Reality. 

You may not agree with him or be interested in all of the selections, but they do represent the wide variety of interviews/topics/stories/experiences from his point-of-view during a specific time period. However, he is also a journalist and these stories are all extremely well-written. Many will know Cashman from his appearances on and work for Tim Pool and for his show Inverted World Live, which should clue you into where some of his interests lie (conspiracies, big foot sightings, aliens, mind control, etc.). In a very timely manner while I was reading these essays Fauci was in the news repeatedly pleading the fifth with his twee diary exposed. Along with many people Cashman's life was very much personally affected by Covid and opens with this marking his entry into politics and current political topics. 

Contents include:

The Invisible Enemy: the intro and covid; "Either it'd [covid] disappear from headlines in a week or it was going to become my generations next psychological scar - like 9/11, WWDs, Y2K, Columbine, or worse, the Macarina."
The case for President Ye
Invalid Ballot Department - Kari Lake
The Perpetual Truama Machine - the Doomsday clock, Eliza Bleu 
Ohio's Airborne Toxic Event - The contamination and nonexistent/lackluster response after the catastrophic train crash and fire in East Palestine, Ohio
The Million Dollar Mullet - Riff Raff
Everyone Loves Alex Jones
The Bridge to Nowhere - smuggling and unsecured border
Vultures in Miami - Ye 
The Demon Hunters - Alex Rosen's Predator Poachers
The invasion of the Tech Vampires - "A tech vampire is a monster that pretends to be human that works in Silicon Valley and creates evil technology to feed off you, your emotion, your fear, your hatred, your love, and your dreams."
Inauguration at the End of the World - the incestuous relationship between politics and media
The FBI Sacrifices One of It's Own - whistle blower Teresa Tumblin
The Simulation is Burning - the Charlie Kirk assassination, do not let your emotions capture you, do not let your biases hold you hostage
Who Will Survive and What Will Become of Them?

Admittedly, there were some interviews/stories that didn't interest me (Ye, Eliza Bleu, Riff Raff, Alex Jones) but I found the others interesting whether I agreed with Cashman's extrapolations or not. It was noted that some reviews I saw were negative with no basis in reality. Yes, some of the topics may be polarizing for some people, but in that case, be a professional, note the essay you didn't like, and move on. Or, if you are not going to finish the book, say you are going to decline reviewing it and why. Of course the collection is from his point-of-view and biases and you are showing your point-of-view and biases by DNF it and then giving it one star. Certainly you can't disagree with stopping child predators, porn, and traffickers or think that it is a conspiracy? 

Good Villains is an excellent choice for those interested in journalistic essays and stories from an independent point-of-view. Thanks to Skyhorse for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.