When his film Bowling for Columbine screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Michael Moore received the longest standing ovation in the history of the festival. The first documentary to compete at Cannes, Bowling for Columbine went on to win the Grand Jury Prize.

Moore is something of a hero in France. His first film, Roger and Me is part of the French school curriculum. Made in 1989, this multi award-winning documentary exposed some of the business practices of General Motors.

But Moore’s appeal and influence extends beyond the Gallic borders. Stupid White Men, Moore’s scathing assault on America, has been a bestseller throughout Europe, the UK and Australia – and, interestingly enough, in the US. It has spent about a year on the New York Times bestseller list, holding the top spot for eight weeks. After Moore’s Oscar win for Columbine, sales of the book escalated once more.

First published on September 10, 2001, Stupid White Men is a book that very nearly wasn’t. The 9/11 attacks made publishers Harper-Collins twitchy about selling a book which accuses George W Bush of ‘stealing’ the presidency, argues for a reduction in spending on the defence forces and criticises almost every facet of modern American society.

As the title suggests, Moore lays the blame for the problems facing the US squarely at the feet of ‘white men’. Moore argues that it is white men (rather than black men or women) who are responsible for corporate corruption, environmental degradation, arsenic in the drinking water and the proliferation of guns.

But the title (and cover) gives another clue as to the nature of this book. This philippic against US society ranges from the satirical to the serious. This is not an academic exercise with footnotes and reasoned argument, but rather an impassioned sermon that is as often alienating as it is affecting. The appearance of Moore himself on the cover is not due to misplaced vanity but because the writer includes himself in the description. He, too, is responsible for the ills of America.

There’s no doubting Moore’s sincerity. He exudes genuine concern for the exploited and disgust for the corrupt and greedy. However his writing style at times detracts from what he is saying. He apologises for swearing and swears nonetheless. But he makes no apology for some of the generalisations, oversimplifications and indulgent exclamations (‘if I find him he’s a dead white guy’) that are peppered throughout the text.

Without providing an explanation, Moore dismisses the Church as ‘a woman-hating organisation’, a group which ‘oppresses’.

He offers a facetious suggestion for achieving peace in Northern Ireland – all the Protestants should convert to Catholicism. It’s one of many global conflicts Moore solves in the space of a few pages. His solutions blend flippancy with earnest argument.

Then there’s the central thesis - that it is only white men who commit atrocities. A brief study of Sino-Japanese relations, China under Maoist rule and regimes of terror led by Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe suggests that all nationalities of people are capable of gross injustice and oppression.

Moore’s favoured medium is visual. His documentaries are incisive and shocking. They also combine the serious with the satirical. It’s a combination that works on screen because there are enough cues to indicate the variation in tone. The music changes, the sound of the narrator’s voice is altered. The overall message is not undermined by such moments of light relief.

However such juxtaposition on paper is less successful. He despairs of the violence within American society yet blithely names a chapter ‘Kill Whitey’.

He devotes a few cheeky pages to ‘a day in the life of POTUS (President of the US)’. The implication is that Mr Bush sleeps constantly, does little work and is a dullard. Yet barely fifty pages later he rails against those who would turn Bush into a ‘cartoon monster’. Isn’t that what Moore himself has done?

George W. Bush comes under attack for a range of offences. From the election fiasco (a victory which Moore argues, quite convincingly I might add, that Bush ‘stole’) to funding cuts for education, health and environmental protection – Stupid White Men is damning in its denunciation of the Bush administration.

But Michael Moore is equally critical of the Democrats, particularly Bill Clinton. Moore writes, “He [Clinton] discovered that saying something was the same as doing it. If you said you were for a clean environment, that was good enough – you didn’t have to do anything to make it a clean environment.”

According to Moore, Clinton’s smooth demeanor and capacity for projecting a positive image disguised some of the less appealing decisions on health, welfare and capital punishment.

Michael Moore is an interesting figure. Determined, resourceful and compassionate, he is a self-appointed spokesman for marginalised America. Scornful of the media, corporate world and justice system, Moore speaks out for the downtrodden. But there is one group, the most vulnerable in society who receive no sympathy from Moore – unborn children.

Here are some statistics you won’t find in his book: An estimated 25 million babies have been aborted since 1973 and 30 per cent of all babies conceived in the US are killed before they are born. Freedom to abort is depicted as an intrinsic part of feminism. Refusal to provide abortion on demand, including late-term abortions, is treated with the same derision as refusing to provide welfare to the poorest among us. To speak up for those who have no voice in society – now that would be taking a stand!

Despite its flaws, Moore’s book is compelling and readable. Inevitably there will be points of disagreement, however as an exposé of a troubled nation Stupid White Men is a searing indictment of selfish living.