Republican Party Reptile

In the twenty-one pieces collected in this book, P.J. O’Rourke visits the Lebanese civil war and the Marcos election campaign, sees Russia through the bottom of a vodka bottle and examines sundry aspects of Western civilization, such as the great bicycle menace, the history of the last fifteen minutes and ‘How to drive fast on drugs while getting your wing-wang squeezed and not spill your drink’ ‘This boozy hymn to home – to America – is funny because it is resonantly true . . . For conservatives and liberals, or for anyone bent double under the weight of political earnestness, Republican Party Reptile is a wonderful bonus indeed’ Wall Street Journal ‘He is funny. As with Evelyn Waugh, I can see why he makes me laugh, but I can’t see why he makes me laugh so much’ Chris Peachment, The Times ‘The funniest wind-up artist to emerge from America since Hunter S. Thompson’ Time Out ‘P.J. O’Rourke has to be the funniest writer going, and boy does he go. This is high-octane wit, S. J. Perelman on acid’ Christopher Buckley ‘Extremely literate, funny, irreverent and refreshingly unpatriotic . . . these essays are a delight’ Daily Telegraph ‘The funniest American writer I have read since Thurber’ Tom Sharpe

Writings from the old-school Republican and New York Times–bestselling author of How the Hell Did This Happen?: “Hilarious” (Christopher Buckley, author of Thank You for Smoking). In this collection of pieces, the outrageous political satirist renowned for such classics as Parliament of Whores takes on a wide range of cultural and political issues, and explains the platform of the Republican Party Reptile: “I think our agenda is clear. We are opposed to: government spending, Kennedy kids, seat-belt laws . . . busing our children anywhere other than Yale, trailer courts near our vacation homes . . . all tiny Third World countries that don’t have banking secrecy laws, aerobics, the UN, taxation without tax loopholes, and jewelry on men. We are in favor of: guns, drugs, fast cars, free love (if our wives don’t find out), a sound dollar . . . and a strong military with spiffy uniforms. There are thousands of people in America who feel this way, especially after three or four drinks. If all of us would unite and work together, we could give this country . . . well, a real bad hangover.” “To say that P. J. O’Rourke is funny is like saying the Rocky Mountains are scenic—accurate but insufficient. At his best he’s downright exhilarating . . . Republican Party Reptile is as rambunctiously entertaining as a greased pig catching contest. If you can find a funnier writer than P. J. O’Rourke, buy him a brandy, but don’t lend him the keys to your pickup.” —Chicago Tribune

Confessions, Adventures, Essays, And (other) Outrages of P. J. O'rourke, this is the first collection of wildly humorous essays from the former editor-in-chief of National Lampoon.

A “hair-raisingly hilarious” journey through danger zones from Belfast to Gaza, by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author (Vanity Fair). “Tired of making bad jokes” and believing that “the world outside seemed a much worse joke than anything I could conjure,” journalist and political satirist P. J. O’Rourke decided to traverse the globe on a fun-finding mission, investigating the way of life in the most desperate places on the planet, including Warsaw, Managua, and Belfast. The result is Holidays in Hell—a full-tilt, no-holds-barred romp through politics, culture, and ideology. The author’s adventures include storming student protesters’ barricades with riot police in South Korea, interviewing communist insurrectionists in the Philippines, and going undercover dressed in Arab garb in the Gaza Strip. He also takes a look at America’s homegrown horrors as he braves the media frenzy surrounding the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Washington DC, uncovers the mortifying banality behind the white-bread kitsch of Jerry Falwell’s Heritage USA, and survives the stultifying boredom of Harvard’s 350th anniversary celebration. Packed with classic riffs on everything from Polish nightlife under communism to Third World driving tips, Holidays in Hell is one of the best-loved books by “one of America’s most hilarious writers” (Time). “Wickedly amusing.” —The Baltimore Sun “Funny, outrageous, perceptive.” —The Washington Post Book World

The political humorist shares his transformation from dirty hippie to conservative middle-aged grouch: “An incorrigible comic gift” (The New York Times Book Review). The #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Give War a Chance was at one time a raving pinko, with scars on his formerly bleeding heart to prove it. In Age and Guile: Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut, P. J. O’Rourke chronicles the remarkable trajectory that took him from the lighthearted fun of the revolutionary barricades to the serious business of the nineteenth hole. How did the O’Rourke of 1970, who summarized the world of “grown-ups” as “materialism, sexual hang-ups, the Republican party, uncomfortable clothes, engagement rings, car accidents, Pat Boone, competition, patriotism, cheating, lying, ranch houses, and TV” come to be in favor of all of those things? What caused his metamorphosis from a beatnik-hippie type comfortable sleeping on dirty mattresses in pot-addled communes during his days as a writer for assorted “underground” papers? Here, O’Rourke shows how his socialist idealism and avant-garde aesthetic tendencies were cured, and how he acquired a healthy and commendable interest in national defense, balanced budgets, Porsches, and Cohiba cigars. From a former editor-in-chief of National Lampoon and frequent NPR guest, this hilarious essay collection shows that there’s hope for all those suffering from acute bohemianism.

An essential collection of career-spanning writings by the political satirist and #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Parliament of Whores. From his early pieces for the National Lampoon, through his classic reporting as Rolling Stone’s International Affairs editor in the 1980s and 1990s, and his brilliant, inimitable political journalism and analysis, P. J. O’Rourke has been entertaining and provoking readers with high octane prose, a gonzo Republican attitude, and a rare ability to make you laugh out loud. Christopher Buckley once described his work as “S. J. Perelman on acid.” Thrown Under the Omnibus brings together his funniest, most outrageous, most controversial, and most loved pieces in the definitive O’Rourke reader. Handpicked and introduced by the humorist himself, Thrown Under the Omnibus is the essential O’Rourke anthology. “The funniest writer in America.” —The Wall Street Journal

"David Stein brought right-wing congressmen, celebrities, writers and entertainment industry figures together for shindigs, closed to outsiders. . . . There was just one problem. Stein was not who he claimed."—The Guardian In 2013, Republican "hero" David Stein made international headlines when he was unmasked as David Cole, the notorious Jewish Holocaust denier who made an entirely different set of headlines in the 1990s with his videos from within the gates of Auschwitz and his appearances on shows like 60 Minutes and Donahue. After a $25,000 bounty was put on his head by a violent extremist group, Cole left behind the bizarre world of Holocaust denial, a landscape populated by Hitler fetishists who Cole himself detested. Then, David Stein the Republican organizer was born. Stein soon became a major force in the closed-door world of Hollywood right-wingers—people who felt as alienated from the mainstream of their profession as Cole had felt as the lone Jewish Holocaust revisionist. Soon enough, Stein was working with major GOP power players and far-right Hollywood A-listers, creating huge private events for the West Coast GOP elite . . . until it all came crashing down when a vengeful former girlfriend outed him publicly. Condemned by those who had previously lauded him, Cole was left with nothing but his story. And here he tells it, warts and all, including the first-ever exposé of the secretive Hollywood far-right underground, "Friends of Abe."

Peter Robinson has Republican parents and grew up in a Republican neighborhood. In college he helped found the notorious Dartmouth Review and infuriated dons at Oxford by revealing an enthusiasm for Margaret Thatcher. He returned to the United States to accept a position as a speechwriter in the White House of both Reagan and Bush. Nevertheless, this inveterate political insider has come forward with a no-holds-barred, honest appraisal of the party that owns his heart. In a political book with attitude, Robinson shares his sometimes angry, sometimes befuddled, sometimes downright amused perspective on the most pressing questions facing the party and the voting public. It's My Party promises to be one of the year's most entertaining and perceptive looks at America's political battlefield.