This election cycle was so absurd that celebrated political satirist, journalist, and die-hard Republican P. J. O'Rourke endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. How the Hell Did This Happen? is his essential take on the stranger-than-fiction (and stranger-than-fact) 2016 presidential election and its equally unbelievable aftermath. Starting with the full cast of presidential candidates, P.J. analyzes his way through the debates and key primaries, campaign platforms (or lack thereof), and presidential style (or lack thereof) to show us how Donald J. Trump, a man whose "haircut makes Kim Jong-un laugh," happened to America. Along the way, P.J. offers a brief history of how our insane primary process evolved and offers up some fresh ideas for a better way to choose a president (part I: road trip!). After the results are tallied, P.J. reckons with our new age: "America is experiencing a change in the nature of leadership. We're getting rid of our leaders. And we're starting at the top." And in a new epilogue for the paperback edition, P.J. looks at Trump's first few months in office and tackles the next big question: "When the hell will this end?"
About the Author :
P. J. O'Rourke has written eighteen books on subjects as diverse as politics and cars and etiquette and economics. Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance both reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He is a contributing editor at the Weekly Standard, H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute, a regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me, and editor-in-chief of the web magazine American Consequences. He lives in rural New England, as far away from the things he writes about as he can get.
Review :
Praise for How the Hell Did This Happen? "Where are we going? Where have we been? P.J. O'Rourke casts his gimlet gaze on the circus of clowns-people foisted on us by the 2016 election-and demands to know How the Hell Did This Happen?"-Vanity Fair, Hot Type
"A no-holds-barred look at the presidential campaign. An across-the-aisle examination, and critique, of the candidates, the press, political punditry, and even an analysis of how he, a conservative libertarian, ended up endorsing Hillary Clinton."-Bloomberg
"O'Rourke has been for decades the wittiest guide to America, and the usual ingredients are packed into this volume. How the Hell Did This Happen? is scabrously witty, inventive and rich in historical detail."-Australian
"How the Hell Did This Happen? chronicles the most insane year ever in American politics . . . it's fantastic to have [O'Rourke] as our kind of Virgil through what I really do hope is the worst year ever."-Nick Gillespie, Reason Podcast
"O'Rourke has plenty of company in concluding that the 2016 election resulted in a populist uprising. But few other writers have described it as powerfully and with such an economy of words."-Washington Independent Review of Books
"How the hell did this happen? Maybe O'Rourke can't definitively explain it all, but he can sure make you laugh while trying."-Huffington Post
"For those interested in one more look at the unusual road leading to the unlikely outcome of the unforgettable 2016 U.S. presidential election, humorist O'Rourke delivers a wry, dry, and occasionally laugh-out-loud take . . . Entertaining as O'Rourke's quips generally are, it's when he gets to the heart of the matter, discussing the mob mentality and the value of ?individual dignity, individual freedom, and individual responsibility, ? that his work is most pointed."-Publishers Weekly
Praise for P. J. O'Rourke
"Whether you agree with him or not, P.J. writes a helluva piece."-Richard Nixon
"P. J. O'Rourke is like S.J. Perelman on acid."-Chris Buckley
"[P. J. O'Rourke] was able to yank conservatives out of the hands of the humorless and shrill, and make such writing accessible . . . He changed my life."-Greg Gutfeld
"[P. J. O'Rourke] occupies a rare place among the laughing class: He has somehow avoided the orifice obsession that captivates many of its members; he identifies as Republican; and he is no mere thumb-sucker, having visited more than 40 countries to report on wars, regime changes, economic revolutions and the experience of drinking cocktails garnished with the poison sacs of cobras."-Wall Street Journal
"Outspoken conservatives have long been a minority in comedy, particularly in the mainstream media, which provided an opportunity for P.J. O'Rourke, who for decades cornered the market for prominent right-wing humorists . . . If his wry essays have a mission statement . . . it's this: Starchy Republicanism is really, really fun."-New York Times Book Review
"As a cultural analyst, O'Rourke's ability and willingness to simultaneously lampoon and celebrate himself and his generation are unequaled."-Publishers Weekly
