Molly Ivins (CANCELLED AFTER PRESS DATE)

The publication of political books is coming so thick and fast that you’d be forgiven for wondering if a recent NEA study, the one about the decline of reading in America, just plain got it wrong. Among them is the paperback release of Molly Ivins’ best-selling Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America, with an author tour cannily timed to add to the heat under Bush’s (seemingly fireproof) ass. The policy-oriented sleuthing of Ivins and co-author Lou Dubose connects the struggles of average people over the past forty-three months to actions taken—or withheld—by the Bush administration. An elderly Philadelphian who died of listeriosis illuminates USDA policies regarding the meatpacking industry; a high-school student in Texas gets “Bushwhacked” twice by No Child Left Behind rigamarole; and a single mother represents millions of pre- and post-9/11 unemployed who fell through the cracks during the great jobless recovery. In these and more than a dozen other tales as witty as they are well-researched, the authors pointedly note that culture wars, smoking, lifestyles, religion, etc. are all distractions from the basic fight at hand: “It is about who’s getting screwed, and who’s doing the screwing. And anybody who tells you different is lying for money.” Additional nuggets of common sense will surely be dispensed at the reading. Galleria, 3225 W. 69th St., Edina; 952-920-0633; www.bn.com