P.J. O'Rourke says we've worked ourselves into a state of anger and perplexity, and it's no surprise because perplexed and angry is what America has always been all about.
This uproarious look at the current state of the United States includes essays like 'The New Puritanism - and Welcome to It,' about the upside of being 'woke' (and unable to get back to sleep); 'Sympathy vs. Empathy,' which considers whether it's better to have an idea of how people feel or to bust their skulls to get inside their heads; 'A Brief Digression on the Additional Hell of the Internet of Things' because your juicer is sending fake news to your FitBit about what's in your refrigerator; and many more.
A couple of extra perks include a quiz to determine where you stand on the spectrum of 'Coastals vs. Heartlanders' and a 'An Inauguration Speech I'd Like To Hear:' ask not what your country can do for you. Ask me how I can get the hell out of here. Featuring extensive coverage from the 2020 campaign trail, this is P.J. at his acerbic best.
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By:
P. J. O'Rourke
Imprint: Grove Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: Main
Dimensions:
Height: 198mm,
Width: 129mm,
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 234g
ISBN: 9781611854558
ISBN 10: 1611854555
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 30 November 2021
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1: Introduction 2: Pre-Preface: As We Go to Press . . . 3: Preface: Manifesto for Extreme Moderation 4: Introduction: O Beautiful for . . . Pilgrim Feet? 5: One Nation-Divided as Hell 6: Coastals vs. Heartlanders 7: Goodbye to Classical Liberalism: It's the End of the World! 8: Big Fat Politics 9: But Thank You Anyway, Partisan Politicians 10: Robin Hood Arithmetic 11: On the Other Hand . . . Just Give Them the Money 12: It's Time to Make Rich People Uncomfortable Again 13: Negative Rights vs. Positive Rights: It's Positively Confusing 14: Sympathy vs. Empathy: Is It Better to Hold People's Hands or Bust into Their Heads? 15: Patriotism vs. Nationalism 16: Big Brother (and Everybody Else) Is Watching You: Thoughts on Rereading 1984 17: Whose Bright Idea Was It to Make Sure That Every Idiot in the World Was in Touch with Every Other Idiot? 18: A Brief Historical Digression on How Communication Has Devolved 19: And While I'm Ranting Against the Digital Age Let Me Not Forget to Excoriate an Aspect of Social Media that Lacks Even Sociability . . .On the Fresh Hell of The Internet of Things 20: Lessons in Fake News from Two Old Masters of the Form 21: Woke to the Sound of Laughter 22: Why Kids R Commies: And Never Mind How the Free Market Bankrupted that Backwards R Big Box Store that Once Held a Greedy Monopoly on Selling Toys 23: Knowing Write from Left 24: Educating My Kids 25: My Own Lousy Education And How It May Be of Aid to the Nation 26: What We Can Learn from the Sixties Drug Culture 27: Can the Government Be Run Like a Business? 28: Two, Four, Six, Eight, Who Do We Appreciate . . .The Electoral College! 29: Is a Reasonable, Sensible, Moderate Foreign Policy Even Possible? 30: The Inaugural Address I'd Like To Hear the President-Whoever It May Be-Deliver 31: My Own Personal Fantasy League Presidential Election 32: A License to Drive (Me Crazy) 33: The Founding Fathers Have Some Words With Us 34: What I Like About U.(S.A.) 35: Acknowledgments
P.J. O'Rourke has written eighteen books on subjects as diverse as politics and cars and etiquette and economics. He is a columnist for the Daily Beast. He lives in rural New England, as far away from the things he writes about as he can get.
Reviews for A Cry From the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land
O'Rourke has a nice, world-weary way with the US's present political follies... He hasn't lost his gift for the brutally effective one-liner. * Guardian on HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? * scabrously witty, inventive and rich in historical detail... O'Rourke is never less than pleasurable company. There were chapters in this book I read twice just for the fun of it... I am already looking forward to the companion volume What The Hell Happens Next? * The Times on HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? * O'Rourke has a real eye for the vagaries of American politics and, on occasion, piercing insight. * Observer on HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? *
