Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I was in Berlin in November 1989, the weekend the wall opened..." (more)
Key Phrases: Iwo Jima, United States, Middle East (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

O'Rourke has made a career out of telling people off. As a foreign correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and Rolling Stone, he has demonstrated a flair for sarcasm and an aptitude for making people laugh. In his 11th book, however, this provocateur par excellence presents a more sober and, alas, less funny, take than usual, this time in essays on American foreign policy, including visits to several important countries on the international scene. Starting with Kosovo, he comments on the Serbian-Albanian conflict, then makes his way to Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Iraq. Other entries look at the effects of September 11 on the U.S. home front, which includes poking fun at airport search techniques and a clever deconstruction of a 2001 statement on peace and social justice signed by 103 Nobelists. O'Rourke's book does many of the things a conservative bestseller is supposed to do: it's irreverent, in-your-face and often offensive (Hillary Clinton: "the furious harridan on the White House third floor"). Yet O'Rourke, the funny man of foreign politics, seems less interested in humor here than in slightly skewed reporting. His articles on Israel and Egypt, for example, are basically descriptive, a diary account of where he went, what he saw, the hotels he stayed in, the food he ate, interrupted every so often by O'Rourke's trademark non sequitur humor. The author's fans probably won't mind the slight shift in direction, though they will wish for more laughs; O'Rourke is one of the most popular conservative authors around and this book, like his others, should find a happy nest on national bestseller lists.
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From Booklist

Another Bush was president and another war was on in Iraq when O'Rourke's first smart-alecky, frat-boy dissection of public policy, Parliament of Whores (1991), was a best-seller. It seems a symptom of our polarized political discourse that, whereas that screed entertained even readers who opposed its libertarian grumpiness, O'Rourke's more recent works are more likely to annoy than amuse anyone left of Milton Friedman. There are few surprises in this volume's commentary on foreign policy: Kosovo, Israel, 9/11, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, a 2001 statement by Nobel laureates, a 2002 Palestinian solidarity march in Washington, D.C., the current war, and in an epilogue, a visit to the island of Iwo Jima. The print media have long included publications tailored for the political Right and Left; Air America gives talk radio a liberal response to the conservative chat shows. Increasingly, political books aim to reinforce the attitudes of readers who already agree with the author rather than to change the minds of others. Peace Kills will circulate best where readers are already committed to the I-hate-liberals humor of O'Rourke and his ideological brethren. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (April 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871139197
• ISBN-13: 978-0871139191
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #658,808 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PJ at the top of his form. Don't miss!, March 29, 2005

By	Peter D. Tillman (Taos, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Previous reviewers have given you real reviews (well, except for the whackos) Here are some fun, free samples --

On 9-11: "Winners don't need to hijack airplanes. Winners have an air force."

On terrorist losers: "When someone detonates a suicide bomb, that person does not have career prospects."

PJ's suggested chant, for pointless protest marches:
"Five, four, three, two.
We don't have a doggone clue!"

Very entertaining stuff, some with quite a bite to it. Don't miss, if you like PJ. Not a bad place to start, either.

Happy reading--
Pete Tillman

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will you like it? Take this quick half-paragraph test., October 7, 2004

By	Billy Hollis (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's easy to find out if you'll like this book. Read the following half paragraph from the end of chapter one:

"But as frightening as terrorism is, it's the weapon of losers. When someone detonates a suicide bomb, that person does not have career prospects. And no matter how horrific the terrorist attack, it's conducted by losers. Winners don't need to hijack airplanes. Winners have an air force."

If you think that's funny and on target, you'll like the book. If you fail to see the humor, or think he's off in the weeds on his opinions, try something else.

I've been reading P.J. since his early National Lampoon days, and I think this is as funny as anything he's done in a long time. It's certainly better than his last two efforts ("Eat the Rich" and "CEO of the Sofa"). It's more comparable to "Give War a Chance". I'm glad to see him regaining his edge.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another fine mess, May 26, 2004

By	Walrus Rex "rexferal" (Grand Junction, CO United States) - See all my reviews

You probably either love or hate P.J. O'Rourke. From the ranting Marxist maniac of thirty years ago to the libertarian leaning Republican of today, he has been consistently funny. This book covers 9/11 through the early stages of the war in Iraq.

O'Rourke is something of a gonzo journalist in the Hunter S. Thompson tradition in that the story is his adventures in getting the story. The fault is not as grievous with O'Rourke, however, in that he is both far less pretentious and far funnier. (He mentions the personal effect of 9/11 on him of driving his prior book off the medium well sellers list, for example.) We travel with O'Rourke as he watches the well intentioned fail to bring order out of chaos while delivering free food to the semi-starving, while he dickers up the cost of buying what he thinks is alcoholic beer in dry Iraq, and while he visits Holy Land, or is it the holely land?

There are certain insights here although the book is played primarily for laughs. It is difficult to dislike the people O'Rourke meets in his travels eventhough they dislike ech other to the point of killing. There is no strong political message in this book and O'Rourke does not burden us with any proposed solutions. Rather, he describes the scenes and the people in such a way as to recall to mind Oliver Hardy saying to Stan Laurel, "This is another fine mess you've gotten me into."

I might mention that this is not a book for the ages. Although there will be no problem for the reasonably well informed now, in ten years you won't be able to get the jokes without reference to footnotes.

Less bitter than Ann Coulter, far funnier than Al Franken, this is a book with an eye for the absurd that has chosen to laugh rather than to cry.