Rating: 
Summary: Shining wit, worth reading whatever your political stripe
Review: I would put this up there with 'Holidays in Hell' (probably PJ's best), and recommend both to anyone sick of travelogues by wimps like Bill Bryson et al. - PJ took over from Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas etc.) as travel correspondent for Rolling Stone, and this book gives the great Gonzo a run for his money.
Read 'How To Drive Drunk on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed And Not Spill Your Drink', or PJ's essay on MDMA experimentation (a decade or so before such things really took off) for confirmation of this.
A neo-libertarian liberal-baiter, PJ delights in eloquently trashing those who disagree with his views. I met him at a book signing a few years back. The usual contingent of protestors waving banners asked PJ awkward questions when the occasion arose - but PJ dismissed them with an imperious wave of his Havana cigar, and a couple of quips worthy of Pope or Wilde.
Reading this is rather like watching a road movie scripted by Ronald Reagan (or perhaps that other great crackpot Republican, David Lynch). As much as 'Holidays in Hell', it will make you want to (re)visit the various destinations, and at least put a big grin on your face.
Rating: 
Summary: Easily worth the cover price...
Review: "Republican Party Reptile" is a collection of essays and ramblings by P.J. O'Rourke, a sometimes Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. Although not every one of these pieces is a masterwork there are several stories that simply must be read. One of my favorites is a story where P.J. is asked by Car and Driver magazine to drive a Ferrari cross country to California to be used in a film. When our deadline-challenged hero approaches his editor about taking time from his other projects to make the trip his boss invites himself along. What follows is one of the greatest road trip stories I have ever read. Not because it is filled with adventurous predicaments but because it conveys the thrill and freedom of both the automobile and the road with such a romantic slant that the story stands alone as a thing of beauty. Several other stories featured are simply hysterical. From analyzing drunk driving methods to taking a Russian cruise with a bunch of...activists to railling against the menace of bicycles, P.J. O'Rourke has made an art of sarcasm. I dare you to read this book without laughing out loud.
Rating: 
Summary: sophomoric and unfunny
Review: "Republican Party Reptile" is a collection of essays and ramblings by P.J. O'Rourke, a sometimes Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. Although not every one of these pieces is a masterwork there are several stories that simply must be read. One of my favorites is a story where P.J. is asked by Car and Driver magazine to drive a Ferrari cross country to California to be used in a film. When our deadline-challenged hero approaches his editor about taking time from his other projects to make the trip his boss invites himself along. What follows is one of the greatest road trip stories I have ever read. Not because it is filled with adventurous predicaments but because it conveys the thrill and freedom of both the automobile and the road with such a romantic slant that the story stands alone as a thing of beauty. Several other stories featured are simply hysterical. From analyzing drunk driving methods to taking a Russian cruise with a bunch of...activists to railling against the menace of bicycles, P.J. O'Rourke has made an art of sarcasm. I dare you to read this book without laughing out loud.
Rating:
Summary: Easily worth the cover price...
Review: "Republican Party Reptile" is a collection of essays and ramblings by P.J. O'Rourke, a sometimes Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. Although not every one of these pieces is a masterwork there are several stories that simply must be read. One of my favorites is a story where P.J. is asked by Car and Driver magazine to drive a Ferrari cross country to California to be used in a film. When our deadline-challenged hero approaches his editor about taking time from his other projects to make the trip his boss invites himself along. What follows is one of the greatest road trip stories I have ever read. Not because it is filled with adventurous predicaments but because it conveys the thrill and freedom of both the automobile and the road with such a romantic slant that the story stands alone as a thing of beauty. Several other stories featured are simply hysterical. From analyzing drunk driving methods to taking a Russian cruise with a bunch of...activists to railling against the menace of bicycles, P.J. O'Rourke has made an art of sarcasm. I dare you to read this book without laughing out loud.
Rating:
Summary: Good essays
Review: Most of the essays in this book are as funny and informative as most of O'Rourke's other works, and unlike "American Spectator's Enemies List", the book is well worth the cover price.
Rating:
Summary: Howlingly funny
Review: My wife won't let me read this in bed anymore because I keep waking her up by laughing out loud. P.J.'s story of his boat trip to Russia just about puts me in the hospital. Even if you don't agree with his viewpoints (and I disagree with quite a few) you will find this is a brilliantly-written riot from a keen and intelligent observer of human foibles on all sides. Guaranteed fun.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Set of Humorous Essays
Review: P. J. O'Rourke is an incredibly funny writer and incisive commentator on the contemporart scene. This collection of essays, while from a libertarian point of view, should be found enjoyable by all readers. In this book he skewers the Safety Nazis, pro-Soviet visitors to the USSR, the New York Review of Books, horrible Protestant hats, cocaine pirates, and other odd ducks in flight. P.J. O'Rourke is one of the funniest writers around, and I also recommend his PARLIAMENT OF WHORES and GIVE WAR A CHANCE.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Set of Humorous Essays
Review: P. J. O'Rourke is an incredibly funny writer and incisive commentator on the contemporart scene. This collection of essays, while from a libertarian point of view, should be found enjoyable by all readers. In this book he skewers the Safety Nazis, pro-Soviet visitors to the USSR, the New York Review of Books, horrible Protestant hats, cocaine pirates, and other odd ducks in flight. P.J. O'Rourke is one of the funniest writers around, and I also recommend his PARLIAMENT OF WHORES and GIVE WAR A CHANCE.
Rating:
Summary: Sharp but Dated
Review: P.J. O'Rourke is what a Republican used to be about--the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Small government and small industry. Trusting people to take care of themselves without a hovering nanny looking after them. This book serves as a position piece for a party that has been hijacked by forces alien to its foundation. And it's pretty damned funny besides.It's dated, though. Written a good twenty years ago, it addresses such issues as poverty in Marcos's Philippenes and a constitutional crisis in the Turks and Caicos islands. This isn't exactly front-page material any longer. We get an overview of O'Rourke's beliefs and the source of them, but one wonders what you'd get out of them today. Sadly, the author isn't as eloquent anymore, nor is he as politically inclusive. He's lapsed into a sad neo-conservative agenda that seems almost antithetical to the contents of this book. But at least, between these covers, we still have the writings of a man who boldly said what he meant and meant what he said. And I'll bet he'll sell you on it too.
Rating:
Summary: Sharp but Dated
Review: P.J. O'Rourke is what a Republican used to be about--the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Small government and small industry. Trusting people to take care of themselves without a hovering nanny looking after them. This book serves as a position piece for a party that has been hijacked by forces alien to its foundation. And it's pretty damned funny besides. It's dated, though. Written a good twenty years ago, it addresses such issues as poverty in Marcos's Philippenes and a constitutional crisis in the Turks and Caicos islands. This isn't exactly front-page material any longer. We get an overview of O'Rourke's beliefs and the source of them, but one wonders what you'd get out of them today. Sadly, the author isn't as eloquent anymore, nor is he as politically inclusive. He's lapsed into a sad neo-conservative agenda that seems almost antithetical to the contents of this book. But at least, between these covers, we still have the writings of a man who boldly said what he meant and meant what he said. And I'll bet he'll sell you on it too.
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