&sq=&lang=&file=File:Question_book-new.svg){kind=small} | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2018) |
&sq=&lang=&file=File:American_hero_wag_the_dog_novel.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Larry Beinhart |
|---|---|
| Original title | American Hero |
| Cover artist | Maria Elias |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Satire, Conspiracy fiction |
| Publisher | Nation Books |
Publication date | 1993, 2004 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 392 |
| ISBN | 1-56025-663-X |
American Hero is a 1993 satirical conspiracy novel, reissued as Wag the Dog: A Novel in 2004, written by Larry Beinhart. It speculates that Operation Desert Storm had been scripted and choreographed as a ploy to get George H. W. Bush reelected to a second term (taking cues from Margaret Thatcher's similar war in the Falkland Islands), while at the same time analyzing exactly why that conflict had been so popular. The book formed the inspiration and basis for the 1997 film, Wag the Dog.