P. J. O'Rourke Biography

Patrick Jake ‘P. J.’ O'Rourke was an American political satirist, journalist and author. He is well-known for his books like Don't Vote! - It Just Encourages the Bastards, Holidays in Heck and The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way (And It Wasn’t My Fault) (And I’ll Never Do It Again). His books titled Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance made it to the New York Times Best Seller List. He was brought up in a middle-class family and was a leftist in his views about politics when he was young but he went through a major change in his political outlook and emerged as a political observer and a satirist with libertarian ideas. He is known for his upfront and dark-satirical take on the political and cultural scenario of America. He began his career with the National Lampoon, an underground, satirical magazine. O’Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute and was a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, The Weekly Standard and The American Spectator. He was also a frequent panelist on National Public Radio's game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!