This is a compilation of Keillor's News from Lake Wobegon segments from his Prairie Home Companion PBS radio show. There is no particular plot here, just a series of vignettes about Lake Wobegon, it's history, customs and citizens. Using the device of this fictional town and its inhabitants Keillor gives a wonderful and accurate portrait of small town American, warts and all. His style is reminiscent of Mark Twain and Will Rogers as he tells stories of Lake Wobegonians that reflect the human condition, the joys and frustrations of growing up in a small town, the agony that is adolescence, the desperation of a young man to escape of his past and his struggles when he does. Like Twain and Rogers, Keillor is able to deftly weave stories that take the reader from sadness to hilarity in a few paragraphs.

For anyone who is a fan of the radio program this is like a visit home. For those unfamiliar with the show this is a wonderful way to see what all the fuss is about.

Keillor's printed archive of his on-air monologues from "A Prairie Home Companion" from over two decades past are as pertinent and humorous today as they were when first recorded audibly and in print. While media and forms of entertainment have fast forwarded to speeds beyond normal human capability and subsequently produced a generation of adreno-entertainment junkies, for the person who still relies on a contemplative sort of amusement, Keillor's wit has no parallel. Despite the saturation of the aforementioned technology into every pocket of the nation via satellite, it resides in tandem with the same sort of people described in the book, which renders each chapter just as fresh as when first published.

If you are looking for the equivalent of a current Stand-Up show in this book, pass on it, but if savor dry humor and contemplating the pathos of life for the salt of the earth in the USA, order a copy today.