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Political satirist, author, humorist P.J. O'Rourke to speak on government, free-market system

By Elizabeth Child
October 1, 2002

P.J. O'Rourke, the best-selling author and political satirist whom Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal have called "the funniest writer in America," will speak at St. Olaf College in Northfield on Wednesday, Oct. 16. His talk, "The Politics of Worry: Government vs. Free Market, Which is Worse?" is free and open to the public.

O'Rourke
O'Rourke
O'Rourke will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel on the St. Olaf campus, followed by a question-and-answer session and reception. The student-run Political Awareness Committee is sponsoring his appearance.

O'Rourke's best-selling books include Parliament of Whores, Give War a Chance, Eat the Rich and The CEO of the Sofa. In the early 1970s, he was editor-in-chief of The National Lampoon, and he has since been a regular contributor to Rolling Stone and The Atlantic Monthly, among other publications.

Known as a hard-bitten, cigar-smoking conservative, O'Rourke, in fact, bashes all political persuasions. As he puts it, "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

Cynicism aside, O'Rourke is a savvy guide to national and world affairs. He comments on the inner workings of Washington bureaucracy and the shifting political and economic sands of the new world order as insightfully as he does his own living room, the subject of The CEO of the Sofa.

Subjects for his writing most often evolve from putting himself in unusual - and often dangerous - situations. He has toured the fighting in Bosnia, visited the West Bank disguised as "P.J. of Arabia," lobbed one-liners on the battlefields of the Gulf War and traded quips with communist rebels in the jungles of the Philippines. He covers current events with the skill and discipline of an investigative reporter, but adds a unique spin that has earned him a reputation as a modern-day Will Rogers.

Patrick Jake O'Rourke was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of a car salesman and a former tap and acrobatic dance instructor. Early on, he was a Republican, but in the late 1960s he changed his politics to conform to the rest of the nation's youth. "At least I was never a liberal," he says. "I went from Republican to Communist and right back to Republican."

O'Rourke attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and received a master's degree in English from Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.

After college, he worked at small newspapers until landing his job as editor-in-chief of The National Lampoon. There he helped to shape the now classic "1964 High School Yearbook Parody." In the 1980s, he decided the real world was funnier than anything National Lampoon's writers could invent, so he became a roving reporter, covering crises and conflicts around the world.

Today, O'Rourke is a contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly, in addition to the author of 10 books.

St. Olaf College, a national leader among liberal arts institutions, fosters the development of mind, body and spirit. It is a residential college in Northfield, Minn., and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college provides personalized instruction and diverse learning environments, with nearly two-thirds of its students participating in international studies.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.