Satire’s Brew: Mass Media & Coffee Beans takes a fresh approach to media critique by using a fictional character to guide the reader through an analytical journey of political and social satire. As the protagonist prepares to give a series of caffeine-fueled lectures, he ruminates on everything from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and presidential satire to iconic political cartoonist Thomas Nast and South Park. Each lecture is filled with literary references, commentary on the American zeitgeist, and the ultimate in the intellectual coffee lifestyle.
As readers engage with the story they have a front row seat to lectures about the state of media and politics, violence in animation, and the comedy of outrage. The audience becomes familiar with the fifth estate and is presented with some of its best examples of media satire.
Satire’s Brew is an excellent choice for introductory courses on mass media or political humor. Firmly rooted in popular culture while gleefully taking erudite aim at the role of the media, Satire’s Brew entertains as it educates.
Each chapter pairs well with a different brand of fair trade organic coffee, not instant, and a slice of Four & Twenty Blackbirds pie.
Brian Dunphy earned his B.A. at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Dramatic Writing. After NYU, he attended the University of Amsterdam’s International School, graduating with a Master’s degree in American Studies, and then earned a second Master’s in Politics from The New School for Social Research. He is a full-time lecturer and the Undergraduate Deputy Chair at CUNY’s Brooklyn College in the Department of Television and Radio, where he teaches courses in mass media, politics, and satire. In 2006 Professor Dunphy was awarded First Prize in the Script Shark Insider Screenwriter Competition.
