Book Club Night Kit
Confronting America
Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer
Cozy night
A short, plainspoken collection of opinions on family, faith, school, work, and habit from one of American television's most recognizable commentators, written to be argued with over a warm plate of food. It is the rare club pick where nobody needs to finish 600 pages to have something to say.
Pull Up a Chair, We're Talking About It
Come for meatloaf, apple crumble, and bottomless coffee while we talk through Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer's Confronting America. Bring your opinions and your appetite, leave the sharp elbows at home.
Reading level: Easy
Best for: A club that likes talking about real life over dessert, and that can disagree kindly without anyone leaving early.
Discussion
Warm-up
- 1.Before we talk about the book at all: what is the one house rule you grew up with that you still quietly follow today?
- 2.Where did you do most of your reading for this one, and did the setting (couch, car line, break room) change how the tone landed for you?
Digging in
- 1.The book spends real time on family. Which relative's voice did you hear in your head while you were reading, and was that comforting or complicated?
- 2.On the chapters about school and education: what is a teacher or classroom moment from your own life that this book gently pulled back up?
- 3.The book treats work as something close to a moral habit. Tell us about a job, however small, that made you feel genuinely useful.
- 4.Faith and religion come up throughout. Without anyone needing to state a position, what does the word comfort mean to you in that part of your life?
Going deep
- 1.Somewhere in this book you almost certainly disagreed, and somewhere you nodded. Sitting here with a warm drink, what did that mix feel like, and did any of it soften on reflection?
- 2.Opinion books are really invitations to be persuaded. Looking back across the whole thing, was there one page that made you want to call someone you love and talk it over?
On the table & to sip
To eat
Levittown meatloaf with buttered mashed potatoes
Pure mid-century Long Island dinner table, the kind of meal that anchors the book's family-and-work chapters. Make it ahead, keep it warm, serve in the pan.
Diner-style grilled cheese, cut in triangles
A working-lunch classic that suits a book about hard work and plain talk. Easy for a host, easy to eat one-handed while arguing.
Warm apple crumble with vanilla ice cream
About as American-kitchen as dessert gets. Sweetens any moment the conversation gets a little spirited.
To sip
Endless drip coffee, in real mugs (no alcohol)
The unofficial fuel of every kitchen-table debate in America. Set out a thermos and let people refill themselves.
Hot spiced apple cider (no alcohol)
Warm, homey, and it gives anyone who wants a break from opinions something to hold and sip.
Irish coffee with a soft cap of cream
A cozy nightcap for a book with plenty of Irish-American family feeling running through it.
Run of show
7:00
Mugs first, book later
Coffee and cider poured before anyone says a word about chapters. Blankets on the couch arms, lamps on, overhead light off.
7:20
Supper on the table
Serve the meatloaf and grilled cheese buffet-style. Ask the two warm-up questions while plates are being filled.
7:45
Kitchen-table round
Work through the theme questions in order. Let people tell stories about their own families and jobs. That is the whole point.
8:20
Crumble and the deep two
Bring out dessert before the harder questions. Sugar makes disagreement friendlier.
8:50
Trivia, low stakes
No teams, no scoring unless someone insists. Read the questions out loud between bites.
9:10
Scorecards and a nightcap
Pass out cards and Irish coffees. Read a few aloud, hand out bookmarks at the door.
Host tips
- Say out loud at the start that agreeing is optional and staying kind is not. One sentence at the beginning saves the whole night.
- Keep the food warm and self-serve so nobody has to leave a story to go to the stove.
- If the room drifts into current politics, gently steer back with a personal question. Ask someone what their grandmother would have said about it.
Playlist
Low-volume American comfort: front porch guitars, old radio warmth, and a little Irish-American sentiment, all quiet enough to talk over.
- 01 Our Town - Iris DeMent
- 02 My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen
- 03 Danny Boy - Bing Crosby
- 04 Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
- 05 Will the Circle Be Unbroken - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- 06 Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash
- 07 The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand
- 08 Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
Trivia
- 1.Which cable news program did Bill O'Reilly host for roughly two decades? (The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News.)
- 2.O'Reilly is also known for a best-selling narrative history series. What is the first word of nearly every title? (Killing (as in Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, and so on).)
- 3.In what state was Bill O'Reilly born and raised? (New York, growing up on Long Island.)
- 4.Before television, O'Reilly worked in what profession that he often references? (He taught high school, and later worked as a local and network news reporter.)
- 5.Co-author Josh Hammer is best known as what kind of writer? (A conservative legal commentator and columnist.)
- 6.Which broad genre does this book belong to: memoir, political and cultural commentary, or thriller? (Political and cultural commentary.)
- 7.Name three of the subject areas the publisher lists for this book. (Any three of: education, family, drugs, work, religion.)
- 8.O'Reilly holds a graduate degree from which Ivy League school's public policy program? (Harvard, from its Kennedy School.)
Bookmarks
Print, cut, and tuck one at every seat, a small keepsake from the night.
“Strong coffee, strong opinions, and the porch light left on.”
Confronting America
Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer
bookclubnight.com
“Disagree all you like. Dessert is still at nine.”
Confronting America
Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer
bookclubnight.com
“Every argument here started as somebody's dinner table.”
Confronting America
Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer
bookclubnight.com
Rate the book
Comfort factor☆☆☆☆☆
Made me think of my own family☆☆☆☆☆
Fairness to the other side☆☆☆☆☆
Readability☆☆☆☆☆
Would I hand it to a friend☆☆☆☆☆
One word for this book: ______________________
The chapter I'd want to talk about over breakfast: ______________________
Something I quietly agreed with: ______________________
That's a wrap
Thank you for coming
We hope the company was good and the conversation even better. Until the next chapter.