Rating: 
Summary: Collection of Authors first 25 years of writing
Review: Marking the first quarter century of PJ O'Rourkes life as a writer, You see him transform from a liberal hippie 60's writer into a 90's writer with Republican veiws, but still rebeling against all types of government and authority. It's obvious when he brings up politics and Hillary Clinton in stories about 'Bird Hunting' and 'Golf'. He includes stories from small political underground newspapers that he wrote to pay for marijuana, and went on to become one of this countries best Journalists('Gonzo' if you will) writing for popular publications like The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and Car and Driver
Rating: 
Summary: A disillusioned idealist
Review: P.J. O'Rourke is a good example of someone who got just a little bit too inebriated on the leftist politics in the 60's and is still working on his hangover. The common thread in his writings is a deepseated suspicion of conventional wisdom and a special talent for ridiculing it.
Couple that with considerable writing skills, and you have entertaining and provocative reading. The trouble with people like O'Rourke is that some people will take his views seriously and think, for example, that all politicians are either corrupt or stupid (or both). This book should come with the disclaimer that it is written under severe influence of cynicism and humor and should not be taken entirely at face value
Rating:
Summary: Politics, stories, and concrete poetry -- best of everything
Review: PJ O'Rourke has always been one of my favorite cultural and political commentators. An unrepentant Libertarian Republican who used to be an unrepentant Marxist radical, O'Rourke is a conservative who writes with all the wit and verve that, supposedly, only liberals are capable of. P.J. O'Rourke is the Al Franken of the American Right, if Al Franken were actually funny. Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut is made up of O'Rourke's previously uncollected writings over the past three decades. As such, the book begins with a few choice pieces from his angry days as a Marxist journalist in the early '70s (where, it must be said, O'Rourke still writes with a wit that proves that funny is funny not matter what the ideology) moves on to cover his brief period as an adherent to Concrete Poetry (an art form that he admits still having no idea what to make of) and finally closes with a few of his recent essays as Rolling Stone's Foreign Affairs Editor. Best of all, O'Rourke includes a few short stories that he wrote and published while editor of National Lampoon. The stories, all dealing with his past as a '60s radical, are a perfect mixture of radical nostalgia and modern day clear headedness and, along with an unexpected pathos for his lost characters wandering through the political wilderness of protest, they also rank amongst the most hilarious of O'Rourke's writings, perfectly displaying his trademark style of detached irony and self-depreciating wit (one can always sense O'Rourke saying, "Can you believe they actually pay me to write this stuff?"). Perhaps most nicely, the pieces in this collection are arranged by chronological order so that the reader literally goes through O'Rourke's political and literary evolution with him over the course of the book. As such, we're provided with a nice view of the political odyssey of both O'Rourke and America over the past 30-odd years. If one thing remains the same it is that O'Rourke, whether conservative or liberal, consistently refuses to accept anything at face value. He remains, always, the eternal skeptic. And we, as readers, are all the better off for it.
Rating:
Summary: Politics, stories, and concrete poetry -- best of everything
Review: PJ O'Rourke has always been one of my favorite cultural and political commentators. An unrepentant Libertarian Republican who used to be an unrepentant Marxist radical, O'Rourke is a conservative who writes with all the wit and verve that, supposedly, only liberals are capable of. P.J. O'Rourke is the Al Franken of the American Right, if Al Franken were actually funny. Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut is made up of O'Rourke's previously uncollected writings over the past three decades. As such, the book begins with a few choice pieces from his angry days as a Marxist journalist in the early '70s (where, it must be said, O'Rourke still writes with a wit that proves that funny is funny not matter what the ideology) moves on to cover his brief period as an adherent to Concrete Poetry (an art form that he admits still having no idea what to make of) and finally closes with a few of his recent essays as Rolling Stone's Foreign Affairs Editor. Best of all, O'Rourke includes a few short stories that he wrote and published while editor of National Lampoon. The stories, all dealing with his past as a '60s radical, are a perfect mixture of radical nostalgia and modern day clear headedness and, along with an unexpected pathos for his lost characters wandering through the political wilderness of protest, they also rank amongst the most hilarious of O'Rourke's writings, perfectly displaying his trademark style of detached irony and self-depreciating wit (one can always sense O'Rourke saying, "Can you believe they actually pay me to write this stuff?"). Perhaps most nicely, the pieces in this collection are arranged by chronological order so that the reader literally goes through O'Rourke's political and literary evolution with him over the course of the book. As such, we're provided with a nice view of the political odyssey of both O'Rourke and America over the past 30-odd years. If one thing remains the same it is that O'Rourke, whether conservative or liberal, consistently refuses to accept anything at face value. He remains, always, the eternal skeptic. And we, as readers, are all the better off for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Despite a slow start, P.J. O'Rourke is as funny as ever.
Review: The epitome of Republican, yes I said republican humor. Liberals don't have the handle on humor, obviously, and P.J. has done it again with his O'Rourke finesse! Many kudos to a laff- a- line guy. Get it and laugh your left(ist) sock off! Infact, get every one of his hilarious books and laugh both socks off. You'll be glad you did. When will he give us the President this country needs and sit on the White House lawn with a fine cigar and a tall one? We can only hope.
Rating:
Summary: If there's a wittier, funnier writer out there, they're dead
Review: The epitome of Republican, yes I said republican humor. Liberals don't have the handle on humor, obviously, and P.J. has done it again with his O'Rourke finesse! Many kudos to a laff- a- line guy. Get it and laugh your left(ist) sock off! Infact, get every one of his hilarious books and laugh both socks off. You'll be glad you did. When will he give us the President this country needs and sit on the White House lawn with a fine cigar and a tall one? We can only hope.
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