Reviews

We’ve Got It Made in America: A Common Man’s Salute to an Uncommon Country
By John Ratzenberger and Joel Engel

Despite the declaration in the book’s subtitle, Ratzenberger is not exactly a common man. He has appeared in Hollywood movies (he’s the only actor who’s voiced a character in every Pixar film), played postman Cliff Clavin on Cheers, and now is host of the Travel Channel’s John Ratzenberger’s Made in America. And yet his voice throughout We’ve Got It Made in America is that of a blue-collar guy reared in Bridgeport, Connecticut, who embodies the virtues that have made the United States first among nations. The book is a by- product of Ratzenberger’s current television program, which chronicles American factories that manufacture American products — some of them economic staples, some of them offbeat. His core philosophy sounds simplistic, even simpleminded: “Wake up in the morning, put your hand to something useful, and take care of yourself and your family,” Ratzenberger says. “It’s simple, it’s direct, and it works. And for more than a century, that’s how most people in this country lived.” Simple? Yes. Simpleminded? No. That’s why the text is quite likely to carry a strange fascination for readers, no matter what their personal politics happen to be. Just when Ratzenberger’s rants seem predictable, he changes direction to say something unexpected and even downright contradictory to the superpatriot persona he adopts most of the time. He is especially critical of major American corporations abandoning loyal employees by moving overseas solely for bottom-line considerations. Ratzenberger’s unpredictability coupled with a modicum of erudition drives readers to the final word of each chapter, much like a Wall Street Journal editorial compels even those it angers to read every sentence because the arguments are presented so skillfully.

— Steve Weinberg, AmericanWay Magazine

Despite his résumé as an actor (Cheers, Superman, TheEmpire Strikes Back), Ratzenberger sees himself as a blue-collar everyman and identifies more closely with the factory workers he interviews on his Travel Channel cable TV show, John Ratzenberger's Made in America than he does with the "Hollywood elite." Like his show, Ratzenberger's book celebrates manufacturing in America—and then digresses into a stimulating if contradictory mishmash of political ideas. Nostalgic and perhaps more than a little naïve, Ratzenberger wants to return America to its golden age: "We need to get back to being the industrial giant." At times, his politics resemble those of Michael Moore circa Roger & Me, as in his critique of corporations for abandoning loyal employees by moving operations overseas. But it's the "Hollywood powers that be" and "intellectual elites" who bear the brunt of Ratzenberger's anger. President Bush, meanwhile, gets his compliments for a lack of "contempt for the average American's intelligence" and for his actions in Iraq. Compelling for his unpredictability, this patriotic, independent-minded author will alternately frustrate and fascinate both progressives and conservatives.

- Publishers Weekly