The book's central idea is to name and blame a long list of specific individuals whom Goldberg implicates in making the United States a "far more selfish, vulgar, and cynical place."
Goldberg's book denounces many people—mostly left-of-center celebrities, politicians and newscasters—and takes umbrage at high-profile incidents like Janet Jackson's exposing herself "in front of one-fifth of all the kids in America under age eleven" during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show (p. vi).
Other people[2] (on the cover) include: filmmaker Michael Moore (#1), Democratic leader Howard Dean, reverend Al Sharpton, and rapper Eminem.
A review by Brent Bozell, President of the conservative Media Research Center, also offered praise for the book:[4] "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America is out, and it's a wonderful read for anyone not on that list."
"It's easy to presume that this is the conservatives' answer to recent published tirades against the Right by leftists like Franken and Michael Moore, but there are important distinctions," wrote Bozell.
Responding to Goldberg's assertions that he is not taking political sides, Young questions why his criticisms of "haters" who "demonize" their opponents extends to multiple individuals on the left, but only a single conservative, talk radio host Michael Savage.
Young also suggests that Goldberg employs a double standard in defending Coulter because she offers invective "with a twinkle in her eye" while simultaneously dismissing the notion that some of Al Franken's statements should be taken less seriously because he is engaging in satire.
Cartoonists Jeff Danziger and Ted Rall both said it was "an honor" to be included on the list, with the latter adding, "Not only am I grouped with many people whom I admire for their achievements and patriotism, I'm being demonized by McCarthyite thugs I despise.
Among these are the white nationalist band Prussian Blue, anti-homosexual preacher Fred Phelps, spam mailer Jeremy Jaynes, former United States Attorney General and lawyer-activist Ramsey Clark, and several Supreme Court Justices.
The book was referenced in the manifesto of Jim David Adkisson, the gunman who killed two people and wounded seven others in the Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting.