The Global War on Morris
Steve Israel, 2014
304 pp.

Book Review by Molly Lundquist
January, 2015
Who knew U.S. Congressmen could be so funny? On purpose. They're certainly funny when they issue policy pronouncements or cringe-worthy apologies—except those aren't meant to make us laugh.

But Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island has written a hilarious satire that gets us laughing from page one—intentionally. His hero Morris Feldstein is a happless Walter Mitty type, who's spent his whole life playing it safe—in his career, marriage, everything—because he has a severe allergy to trouble.

So there you have the trope behind this parody of the War on Terror. Who else but a schlemeil like Morris could get caught up in the grand sweep of paranoia following 9/11?

Poor Feldstein. A chain of perfectly ordinary incidents sets off alarms and brings the entire U.S. anti-terrorist machinery down on his unsuspecting head. Really, it was just a lunch (and not a very fancy one at that), but it was enough to trip the wire. The Feds are hyper-vigilant these days, and so they're all over this one.

The author takes potshots at those he seems to know well: politicians and bureaucrats. In one particularly funny scene (out of so many), V.P. Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby discuss who to invite to the new JTFF (Joint Task Force Feldstein), not to be confused with JTTF (Joint Terrorist Task Force):
 —Yes to DNI, No to DCI.
 —How about the OIC?
 —Well, you can't invite the OIC and not include the OIA at DHS.
 —But I just can't see the JTFF without ONSI. And how do you have a JTFF with ONSI but no OTFI?
 —OK, but no EPA.

Although more than a decade has passed since the Twin Towers, Israel's book has achieved an unexpected timeliness. The 2014 U.S. Senate report on torture—or enhanced interrogation—makes one respond to Israel's book with a more pensive, questioning eye.

The Global War on Morris isn't perfect—characters can be flat and predictable, the joke is stretched a bit too thin, making the gag somewhat tiresome by the end. Nonetheless, it's a terrific story—and it should generate lively discussions about the threat of terrorism and how we want our government to respond.

Oh, and you'll want to talk about Rona, too; she's Morris's wife.

See our Reading Guide for The Global War on Morris.