From Publishers Weekly
O'Rourke has made a career out of telling people off. As a foreign correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and Rolling Stone, he has demonstrated a flair for sarcasm and an aptitude for making people laugh. In his 11th book, however, this provocateur par excellence presents a more sober and, alas, less funny, take than usual, this time in essays on American foreign policy, including visits to several important countries on the international scene. Starting with Kosovo, he comments on the Serbian-Albanian conflict, then makes his way to Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Iraq. Other entries look at the effects of September 11 on the U.S. home front, which includes poking fun at airport search techniques and a clever deconstruction of a 2001 statement on peace and social justice signed by 103 Nobelists. O'Rourke's book does many of the things a conservative bestseller is supposed to do: it's irreverent, in-your-face and often offensive (Hillary Clinton: "the furious harridan on the White House third floor"). Yet O'Rourke, the funny man of foreign politics, seems less interested in humor here than in slightly skewed reporting. His articles on Israel and Egypt, for example, are basically descriptive, a diary account of where he went, what he saw, the hotels he stayed in, the food he ate, interrupted every so often by O'Rourke's trademark non sequitur humor. The author's fans probably won't mind the slight shift in direction, though they will wish for more laughs; O'Rourke is one of the most popular conservative authors around and this book, like his others, should find a happy nest on national bestseller lists. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
P.J. O'Rourke puts the "cur" in "curmudgeon," which is to say that he's dogged in his insistence in the futility of most human efforts. This brilliant encyclopedia of comic irony takes us from Kosovo to Iraq, and finally to Iwo Jima, where in each case we are reminded that the service of higher ideals leaves us with a still imperfect world. Dick Hill's musky reading summons the whisky-tinged professorial presence of the author in conveying the underlying warmth of a disillusioned idealist. Peace kills, but in the meantime we can enjoy the bittersweet music of this human voice. J.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Another Bush was president and another war was on in Iraq when O'Rourke's first smart-alecky, frat-boy dissection of public policy, Parliament of Whores (1991), was a best-seller. It seems a symptom of our polarized political discourse that, whereas that screed entertained even readers who opposed its libertarian grumpiness, O'Rourke's more recent works are more likely to annoy than amuse anyone left of Milton Friedman. There are few surprises in this volume's commentary on foreign policy: Kosovo, Israel, 9/11, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, a 2001 statement by Nobel laureates, a 2002 Palestinian solidarity march in Washington, D.C., the current war, and in an epilogue, a visit to the island of Iwo Jima. The print media have long included publications tailored for the political Right and Left; Air America gives talk radio a liberal response to the conservative chat shows. Increasingly, political books aim to reinforce the attitudes of readers who already agree with the author rather than to change the minds of others. Peace Kills will circulate best where readers are already committed to the I-hate-liberals humor of O'Rourke and his ideological brethren. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
In his classic best-sellers, O'Rourke has reported from the front lines of world history, braving the bad traffic, weak drinks, and less than stellar golfing of countless hot spots of war, poverty, and repression. Now with his latest collection, Peace Kills, P.J. casts his ever-shrewd and mordant eye on America's latest adventures in warfare. Imperialism has never been more fun. To unravel the mysteries of war, O'Rourke first visits Kosovo, where "NATO tried to start World War III without hurting anyone." Talking to KLA veterans, Albanian refugees, and peacekeepers doing their best impression of Santa Claus, he confronts the paradox of "the war that war-haters love to love." P.J. also tackles the Middle East, a region he finds as confusing as the algebra they invented. He travels from Egypt, "the cradle of tourism," to Israel and to Kuwait, where he witnesses citizens enjoying their newfound freedoms-namely, to shop, eat, and sit around a lot. Peace Kills is P.J. O'Rourke at his most incisive and relevant-an eye-opening look at a world much changed since he declared in his number-one national best-seller Give War a Chance that the most troubling aspect of war is sometimes peace itself.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In his classic Parliament of Whores, P. J. O'Rourke listened to the dirty joke that is the U.S. government. In his best-seller Eat the Rich he subjected himself to the shaggy dog story of economics. Now O'Rourke brings his critical facilities to bear on the ultimate stand-up act -- American foreign policy. Imperialism has never been so funny. "Americans hate foreign policy," says O'Rourke. "Americans hate foreign policy because Americans hate foreigners. Americans hate foreigners because Americans are foreigners... Being foreigners ourselves, we know what foreigners are up to with their venomous convents, lying alliances, greedy agreements, and trick-or-treaties." And yet America cannot ignore the world. "Our previous attempts at isolationism were successful," says O'Rourke. "Unfortunately they were successful for Hitler's Germany and Tojo's Japan."

O'Rourke visits Kosovo to find out what happens when we try to have a war without hurting anybody: "Wherever there's injustice, oppression, and suffering, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it's happening." He travels to Israel at the outbreak of the intifada and ponders, "What if people who had been away for ages, out and on their own, suddenly showed up at their old home and demanded to move back in? My friends with grown-up children tell me this happens all the time." He flies to Egypt in the wake of the 9/11 terrorists' attacks and contemplates bygone lunacies. "There is a question that less sophisticated Americans ask (and more sophisticated Americans would like to): Why are the people in the Middle East so crazy? Here, at the pyramids, was an answer from the earliest days of civilization: People have always been crazy." And he covers the demonstrations and the denunciations of war. "French ideas, French beliefs, and French actions form a sort of lodestone for humanity. A moral compass needle needs a butt end. Whatever direction France is pointing -- toward collaboration with Nazis, accommodation with communists, existentialism, Jerry Lewis, or a UN resolution veto -- we can go the other way with a quiet conscience." Finally he arrives in Baghdad with the U.S. Army and, standing in one of Saddam's palaces, decides, "If a reason for invading Iraq was needed, felony interior decorating would have sufficed."

Peace Kills is P. J. O'Rourke as both incisive reporter and absurdist, relevant and irreverent, with a clear eye for everyone's confusion including his own. O'Rourke understands that peace is sometimes one of the most troubling aspects of war.

FROM THE CRITICS

Paula Friedman - The New York Times

Readers acquainted with P. J. O'Rourke's knock-'em-dead writings on American politics will know just what to expect -- at least in terms of perspective -- from Peace Kills. O'Rourke never fails to find the absurd: ''Wherever there's suffering, injustice and oppression, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it's happening.'' He even goes so far as to say, ''Americans hate foreign policy because Americans hate foreigners.''

Publishers Weekly

O'Rourke has made a career out of telling people off. As a foreign correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and Rolling Stone, he has demonstrated a flair for sarcasm and an aptitude for making people laugh. In his 11th book, however, this provocateur par excellence presents a more sober and, alas, less funny, take than usual, this time in essays on American foreign policy, including visits to several important countries on the international scene. Starting with Kosovo, he comments on the Serbian-Albanian conflict, then makes his way to Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Iraq. Other entries look at the effects of September 11 on the U.S. home front, which includes poking fun at airport search techniques and a clever deconstruction of a 2001 statement on peace and social justice signed by 103 Nobelists. O'Rourke's book does many of the things a conservative bestseller is supposed to do: it's irreverent, in-your-face and often offensive (Hillary Clinton: "the furious harridan on the White House third floor"). Yet O'Rourke, the funny man of foreign politics, seems less interested in humor here than in slightly skewed reporting. His articles on Israel and Egypt, for example, are basically descriptive, a diary account of where he went, what he saw, the hotels he stayed in, the food he ate, interrupted every so often by O'Rourke's trademark non sequitur humor. The author's fans probably won't mind the slight shift in direction, though they will wish for more laughs; O'Rourke is one of the most popular conservative authors around and this book, like his others, should find a happy nest on national bestseller lists. Agent, Robert Dattila. (June) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Barbs of a conservative sort, with subjects ranging from Kosovo to airport security. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

P.J. O'Rourke puts the "cur" in "curmudgeon," which is to say that he's dogged in his insistence in the futility of most human efforts. This brilliant encyclopedia of comic irony takes us from Kosovo to Iraq, and finally to Iwo Jima, where in each case we are reminded that the service of higher ideals leaves us with a still imperfect world. Dick Hill's musky reading summons the whisky-tinged professorial presence of the author in conveying the underlying warmth of a disillusioned idealist. Peace kills, but in the meantime we can enjoy the bittersweet music of this human voice. J.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews