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    Holidays in Hell
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    Holidays in Hell
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    Holidays in Hell
    Ebook344 pages8 hours

    Holidays in Hell

    By P. J. O'Rourke

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Now available as an ebook, the original classic in which P.J. O'Rourke takes on the role of tour guide with hilarious results


    P.J. O'Rourke travels to hellholes around the globe in Holidays in Hell, looking for trouble, the truth, and a good time. After casually sight-seeing in war-torn Lebanon and being pepper-gassed in Korea, P.J. checks out the night life in communist Poland and spends the Christmas holidays in El Salvador.

    Taking a long look at Nicaragua, P.J. asks, "Is Nicaragua a Bulgaria with marimba bands or just a misunderstood Massachusetts with Cuban military advisors?"; has a close encounter with a Philippine army officer he describes as "powerful-looking in a short, compressed way, like an attack hamster"; and concludes, "Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun."

    'The first few pages of this book made me laugh so much I dropped it on my month-old baby... Holidays in Hell is a splendid read.' Evening Standard

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Books
    Release dateJun 1, 2012
    ISBN9781611859850
    Unavailable
    Holidays in Hell
    Author

    P. J. O'Rourke

    P. J. O'Rourke is the bestselling author of ten books, including Eat the Rich, Give War a Chance, Holidays in Hell, Parliament of Whores, All the Trouble in the World, The CEO of the Sofa and Peace Kills. He has contributed to, among other publications, Playboy, Esquire, Harper's, New Republic, the New York Times Book Review and Vanity Fair. He is a regular correspondent for the Atlantic magazine. He divides his time between New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

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    Reviews for Holidays in Hell

    3.5/5

    236 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The author wrote about his travels, and published as the "International Affairs Desk Chief" at Rolling Stone. This is a travel book. The author chose to visit and write about trouble-spots around the globe. He did sight-seeing in war-torn Lebanon, was pepper-gassed in Korea, checked out night-life in Poland, and did a Christmas in El Salvador. He described a Philippine army officer as "powerful-looking in a short, compressed way, like an attack hamster". He takes on serious issues, with merciless parody: "Due to this actuarial wrestling match between mortality and screwing like bunnies, average age in the Third World will drop precipitously. By 2013 many Third World business and political leaders will be under the age of five. Thus government and economic matters will be conducted at approximately the same level of maturity and sophistication as they are now." [254]He's pretending to just be out to have a good time, but usually at the expense of others, and usually others of an oppressive persuasion.
    • 3/5
      This is a collection of articles written for various magazines about travelling to unusual places - war zones, evangelical Christian holiday camps, that sort of thing. Funny, but best read one article at a time with a break in between, otherwise the humour kinda grates.
    • 5/5
      PJ O'Rourke's Holidays in Hell is PJ at his peak -- totally irreverent, totally indifferent to political correctness and propriety, frequently hilarious. The travel essays in this volume take him to several central American countries, Poland, the Philippines, and even to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's Heritage USA compound. Great fun.
    • 5/5
      I have lost _both_ of my copies of this book. I wish I still had it so I could compare his observaitons to the state of the world now. (Fortunately, the Atlantic Monthly magazine pulishes O'Rourke from time to time, so I don't have to go too long between fixes.)
    • 4/5
      P.J. O'Rourke can be a very funny writer and this is on show in "Holidays in hell", a collection of his writing as a foreign affairs journalist. The most memorable entry is his trip to the Philippines to cover the election result that eventually led to the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos and the rise of Corazon Aquino. Trips to Communist nations and Israel also feature, as do some good one liners.
    • 4/5
      Hilarious. Although opinionated and boorish, I find his writing equally critical of U.S. social craziness as of the foreign cultures he satirizes. In particular his chapters on the Heritage USA Christian theme park and another on the Epcot Center ("Darkest America") stand out as social commentary in the same vein as Mark Twain or Ring Lardner.
    • 5/5
      Risking life and limb in such Hellish zones as 1980s Lebanon, El Salvador, and Harvard University, O’Rourke looks “for a good time” amidst the chaos according the rear cover description… just above the Nixon quote…trippy… While reading this, I assumed he was a journalist that had attempted the objective route during the sundry riots, protests, and Vietnams dotting the sixties and finally said “F**k it! This is all bullsh*t that perpetually repeats itself!” and moved on to a, if you will, more subjective approach to covering contentious situations. Apparently he’s always been a satirist/smart ass and this is certainly well-conveyed with these hilarious essays. Beyond apparently consuming massive quantities of booze, O’Rourke’s “holidays” aren’t about vacationy stuff like awkwardly para-sailing in Beirut during the latest bombing campaign. He’s there like “real” journalists, under fire, seeking out key interviews, and doing whatever else real journalists do in troubled zones (apparently consume massive quantities of booze). The difference is O’Rourke takes it all with a grain of salt and a long ton of cynicism. Compiled throughout the eighties, this is obviously dated in a same-damn-thing manner. Problems in and around the Holy Land? Mexican border issues? Slimy evangelists? I’m so glad we’re in a more advanced millennium. South Africa gets a big soccer tournament in our brave new world, though I hear Epcot is still charging admission for awe-inspiring exposure to the prowess that is General Motors. Can’t win them all. Don’t sell that
    • 4/5
      My reactions on reading this book in 1991.Beyond the cynical, black, sometimes hyperbolic humor of this book, O'Rourke gives some telling insight into various hellholes on the planet. (Most are Third World ones, but there is also the strange land of the Euro-Weenies and Dark Places of America: Heritage U.S.A. and EPCOT Center.) P.J. tries to avoid cliches, see both sides, and cite the telling detail whether it's the befuddled Afrikaaners, the El Salvadorians who can't be satisfied given their position, the anarchic Beirutians, and the brain-dead, smug Europeans. O'Rourke's position seems closest to libertarian. He despises liberals and cites many examples of their lies and stupidities. But he also takes a few swipes at Republicans. Indeed, he seems unsure if America can help the rest of the world. O'Rourke is firmly anti-communist. His piece on Poland is a set-piece of his philosophy. Here O'Rourke ignores direct talk on totalitarian Communism and its effect on freedom and wealth. For him it's crucial that life under the system is boring, squallid, and no fun. He really is, as he quips, interested in the difference between wrong and fun. O'Rourke is convinced America is the best place on Earth but in political, physical, and social danger from within and without. O'Rourke is proof that truth about the world can be communicated with engaging humor. O'Rourke may do more for the political education of the American populace that many "serious" writers.