World Famous Comics: Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer
Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer
By: P. J. O'Rourke Publisher: Grove Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Grove Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: October 10, 2003
In the spirit of his savagely funny and national best-seller Parliament of Whores, Give War a Chance is P. J. O'Rourke's number one New York Times best-selling follow-up. O'Rourke runs hilariously amok by tackling the death of Communism, sanctimonious liberals, and America's perennial bad guy Saddam Hussein in a series of classic dispatches from his coverage of the 1991 Gulf War. Here is our most mordant and unnervingly funny political satirist on: Kuwait City after the Gulf War: "It looked like all the worst rock bands in the world had stayed there at the same time." On Saddam Hussein, O'Rourke muses: "He's got chemical weapons filled with ... chemicals. Maybe he's got The Bomb. And missiles that can reach Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Spokane. Stock up on nonperishable foodstuffs. Grab those Diet Coke cans you were supposed to take to the recycling center and fill them up with home heating oil. Bury the Hummel figurines in the yard. We're all going to die. Details at eleven."
shorter review "Give War a Chance" is a very entertaining book. The book contains a bunch of loose stories about various subjects ranging from communism, to hippies, the 1st Gulf War, how stupid the Carters were, and how evil the Kennedys were.
My favorite three chapters were: The chapter about democracy taking over in Nicaragua. The chapter about Dr Ruth. The chapter about how evil the Kennedy Clan was, and is.
There were also interesting tales about the first gulf war.
great title, laugh out loud humor The title is brilliant, his humor just right, and I always appreciate a fellow libertarian.
Mostly, his book is common sense. War is often a necessary evil that has produced more peace than anything else. Rich taxpayers and the Marine Corps do more for world peace than the 1% of Ben & Jerry's profits that are set aside for that purpose - but then that's stating the obvious, isn't it?
Plus, always relying on diplomacy is naïve, unrealistic (remember Hitler?). People are inherently evil, not good.
And I never knew that O'Rourke used to be a "long-haired peace creep" back in the 60s, although it makes him more authentic. He's been on the Other Side, so he knows what they believe firsthand, making him an excellent critic, far more knowledgable than people who have been either strict liberals or strict conservatives for their entire lives. A "reliable narrator."
A Funny look back in time A solid and very funny look at the crazy folks of the 3rd world. I really enjoyed this man's work and his wickly funny observations about this crazy old world of ours.
Give me a break Typical O'Rourke drivel. Heres how it goes. PJ gets Rolling Stone to pay to send him to Lebanon, Panama (circa Noriega) and some other places where they have lots of guns and bad manners and little of anything else, in the hopes that he will get drunk enough to wander out from the hotel bar, see some "bad stuff" and come up with something funny to say about it. His humor is pointed and well placed at times. Most of the time though he, merely, uses the humor to set up some libertarian screed. Heavy reliance on Cato institute,intern-toadies(who fact check, research and do the academic heavy lifting) at times gives O'Rourke the appearance of knowing his arse from a hole in the ground....do not be fooled. PJ is a Hunter Thompson wannabe, but who lacks HT'S gonads. SKIP IT.
I laughed out loud! This book is insightful, witty, and hilarious. O'Rourke certainly has a biased point of view and glosses over any argument that would say he's wrong (while insulting his opponents, often personally and unfairly), but he makes a strong case for war, capitalism, and freedom.
Some of his comments during the 1991 Gulf War regarding the differences between Sunni and Shiite Muslims seem out of date given September 11, but are interesting nonetheless. I wouldn't have expected someone in the Gulf at that time to see what was coming.
He does a great job of exposing the evils of communism and extolling the virtues of fighting against tyranny. Enjoy!
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