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| P.J. O'Rourke, Honorary Citizen of Rantburg |
| 2007-01-07 |
| . . . He is one of the foremost comic writers in the Anglophone world, and his mirth derives, as much as anything, from his politics. Over the last several decades Mr. O'Rourke has crowded his C.V. as the scourge of fashionable causes at home and also abroad, serving as foreign correspondent to "the absolute, flat-out, goddamn worst places in the world," as he puts it. His 150-proof journalism is savage, profane, relentlessly irreverent, throwing in various breaches of decorum and moral trespasses for good measure--and usually vertiginously, caustically hilarious. When I meet him, he looks well marinated, cured even, as though he'd be great company for steaks and stiff drinks, with several orders of first- and secondhand smoke on the side. In fact, he is. . . . Mr. Mayor, can we get a proclamation and a key to the city? |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #9 My favorite PJ quote is about the Kennedys: "Two of them were shot, but only under the most romantic of circumstances, and not, as one might hope, after due process of law." |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2007-01-07 18:11 |
| #8 I'd also recommend Holidays in Hell. A number of priceless pieces in it, including one on how communists couldn't get the formula for concrete right. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-01-07 15:27 |
| #7 The last paragraph of Give War a Chance are priceless. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-01-07 14:53 |
| #6 I put Holidays In Hell & Give War a Chance on the top of the pile. I love both books and reread them from time to time. Later works arent as clearly focused (chapters seem to be compilations of articles rather than stand-alones) but still good. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-01-07 14:34 |
| #5 I also recommend O'Rourke's Holidays in Hell His rant to a British leftist has to be amongst the funniest words ever written (and true). |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-01-07 14:05 |
| #4 Everybody just gets exasperated. Twenty years ago we were all very interested in what was making these people fight each other, and who was right and who was wrong, and after a while you say: Sit down and shut up. Go to hell. This has been pretty much my experience, too. This is why people turn conservative as they age. After a while you've heard all the new ideas, all the theories, all the plans -- and all the excuses why they didn't work. And then you hear them again. And again. Finally, you don't want to hear them anymore. You start wondering about the old plans. "Hey, why not orphanages? Why not imperialism?" I also recommend O'Rourke's Holidays in Hell. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-01-07 13:31 |
| #3 I would not call him a comic writer like Dave Barry, but a political writer who can be, as Mike says, hysterically funny. His politics do tend toward the Rantburgish end of the spectrum. A couple recomendations: All The Troubles In The World - a trip to some of the 'interesting' (ok, foo'ed up) places in the world. You will learn why in Bangladesh it *is* all about jute. Parlament of Whores - a scathingly funny look at Congress. Money quote: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-01-07 11:00 |
| #2 ...Oh, amen to THAT - PJ is a hysterically funny and always on-target write. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-01-07 10:21 |
| #1 And a Fatwa, we need a Fatwa for this. The Imam of the North we hopefully supply. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-07 10:06 |