P. J. O'Rourke (Patrick Jake O'Rourke) Biography

American humorist, born in Toledo, Ohio, educated at Miami University and Johns Hopkins University. Working at first for underground newspapers in the 1960s, including Baltimore Harry (1968–71), he soon moved towards the mainstream, first with the New York Herald (1971–3), then as editor with The National Lampoon (1973–81), and head of the international affairs desk of Rolling Stone in 1981. O'Rourke is essentially a hedonist of the 1980s, fiercely opposed to the liberal agenda and proud of his affiliation to republican causes. Although he claims to share concerns with a wider, more conventional audience, his stance is restricted and his humour often dependent on a highly selective presentation of detail: for instance, the essay in which he attempts to convince his audience that the massacre at Mutlaa Ridge was really an apocalypse of consumer durables. His books include Republican Party Reptile (1987), Parliament of Whores (1991), Give War a Chance (1992), and All the Trouble in the World: The Light Side of Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death (1994).