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Holidays in Hell: In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the World's Worst Places and Asks, "What's Funny About This" (O'Rourke, P. J.) Posters
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Holidays in Hell: In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the World's Worst Places and Asks, "What's Funny About This" (O'Rourke, P. J.)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
Fabric Type: 9780802137012
Legal Disclaimer: 0802137016
Maximum Color Depth: Grove Press
Metal Type: Grove Press
Publisher: 1
Region Code: 272
Total External Bays Free: June 01, 2000
Total Firewire Ports: Grove Press
Grove Press
Features:- ISBN13: 9780802137012
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
No doubt about it: P. J. O'Rourke has a bizarre sense of fun. "What I've ... been," he writes in his introduction to Holidays in Hell "is a Trouble Tourist--going to see insurrections, stupidities, political crises, civil disturbances and other human folly because ... because it's fun." Forget Hawaii or the Poconos--O'Rourke gets his jollies in places like war-torn Lebanon where he is greeted at the border by a gun barrel in his face, or Seoul, just in time for election-day violence. Wherever he goes, however, O'Rourke takes his quirky sense of humor, laser eye for detail, and artful way with words: a Philippine army officer is "powerful-looking in a short, compressed way, like an attack hamster," and the Syrian army is described as having "dozens of silly hats, mostly berets in yellow, orange and shocking pink, but also tiny pillbox chapeaux.... The paratroopers wear shiny gold jumpsuits and crack commando units have skin-tight fatigues in a camouflage pattern of violet, peach, flesh tone and vermilion on a background of vivid purple. This must give excellent protective coloration in, say, a room full of Palm Beach divorcees in Lily Pulitzer dresses."
O'Rourke's flip, sarcastic style isn't for everyone, of course; the concept that anyone could find sightseeing in the Beirut or El Salvador of the 1980s fun might prove offensive to more than a few readers right off the bat. But love him or hate him, P. J. O'Rourke knows how to tell a good story, and if you like your travel writing laced with more than a little cynicism, Holidays in Hell could be just the book you've been looking for.
Product Description:
Now available from Grove Press, P. J. O'Rourke's classic, best-selling guided tour of the world's most desolate, dangerous, and desperate places. "Tired of making bad jokes" and believing that "the world outside seemed a much worse joke than anything I could conjure," P. J. O'Rourke traversed the globe on a fun-finding mission, investigating the way of life in the most desperate places on the planet, including Warsaw, Managua, and Belfast. The result is Holidays in Hell--a full-tilt, no-holds-barred romp through politics, culture, and ideology. P.J.'s adventures include storming student protesters' barricades with riot police in South Korea, interviewing Communist insurrectionists in the Philippines, and going undercover dressed in Arab garb in the Gaza Strip. He also takes a look at America's homegrown horrors as he braves the media frenzy surrounding the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Washington D.C., uncovers the mortifying banality behind the white-bread kitsch of Jerry Falwell's Heritage USA, and survives the stultifying boredom of Harvard's 350th anniversary celebration. Packed with P.J.'s classic riffs on everything from Polish nightlife under communism to Third World driving tips, Holidays in Hell is one of the best-loved books by one of today's most celebrated humorists
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
If you aren't familiar with PJ O'Rourke, the caustic, polically-incorrect humorist who used to write for the Rolling Stone when it was worth reading, this book of collected travel writings from the 1980's is a good place to start. Besides being funny, O'Rourke has an irritating way of insulting your favorite politician or political movement by pointing out their idiocy and forcing you to realize you are an idiot too for believing them. And you still enjoy the article.
O'Rourke is fairly ... Read More
Rating: -
Great book about travel in the 80's. Gives you a real feeling of how these places might have been back then, and my favorite was Lebanon. I imagine some war torn areas are like that now. The first few pages were amusing, but then they became serious as hell, though O'Rourke probably tried to be funny.
Rating: -
Written in the 1980's, the 3rd world political references are a bit dated but his experiences in these countries and witty, irreverent observations are still relevant and entertaining. A good, light read with some quotable quotes.
Rating:  -
I know this book goes back to when Reagan was president and the commies were one-upping one another in Siberia, but "Holidays in Hell," now more than ever, is still a freaking hysterical book!
I remember reading it after I got hooked on O'Rourke in college. I had to put the book away for the weekend, because I'd be sitting in British Lit and remember something O'Rourke said, then I'd start snickering like an extra in Reefer Madness. Dangerous book to read and try to keep your mind on anything ... Read More
Rating: -
I've read everyone of PJ's books, this one is his signiture writing if there is such a thing. Its up on the night stand with Catcher in the Rye and a few others that I pick up and re-re-re read every year. Holidays in Hell is a bit dated now but still the best thing he's ever done. I wish PJ would do a 21st century version of this book. Unfortunatly it doesnt seem that he talks about his travels much anymore. Lately, some of his books are getting a bit heavy and intense to read and seem to have less of that ... Read More
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