Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut: Twenty-Five Years of P.J. O'Rourke (original 1995; edition 1995)

by P. J. O'Rourke

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Readers may be shocked to discover that America's most provocative (and conservative) satirist, P. J. O'Rourke, was at one time a raving pinko, with scars on his formerly bleeding heart to prove it. In Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut, O'Rourke chronicles the remarkable trajectory that took him from the lighthearted fun of the revolutionary barricades to the serious business of the nineteenth hole. How did the O'Rourke of 1970, who summarized the world of "grown-ups" as "materialism, sexual hang-ups, the Republican party, uncomfortable clothes, engagement rings, car accidents, Pat Boone, competition, patriotism, cheating, lying, ranch houses, and TV" come to be in favor of all of those things? What causes a beatnik-hippie type, comfortable sleeping on dirty mattresses in pot-addled communes - as P. J. did when he was a writer for assorted "underground" papers-to metamorphosize into a right-wing middle-aged grouch? Here, P. J. shows how his Socialist idealismand avant-garde aesthetic tendencies were cured and how he acquired a healthy and commendable interest in national defense, the balanced budget, Porsches, and Cohiba cigars. P. J. O'Rourke's message is that there's hope for all those suffering from acute Bohemianism, or as he puts it, "Pull your pants up, turn your hat around, and get a job." "From the fictionalized accounts of his career as a hard-drinking hippie to the Benchley-in-the-age-of-macho lampoon of fly fishing, Mr. O'Rourke shows anincorrigible comic gift and an eye for detail that keeps the wild stuff grounded." - The New York Times Book Review… (more)

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Member:	boxofdelights
Title:	Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut: Twenty-Five Years of P.J. O'Rourke
Authors:	P. J. O'Rourke
Info:	Atlantic Monthly Pr (1995), Edition: 1st ed, Hardcover, 341 pages
Collections:	Your library, dacha
Rating:
Tags:	nf, essays, unread, unreviewed

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Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut: Twenty-Five Years of P. J. O'Rourke by P. J. O'Rourke (1995)

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At his best P.J. O'Rourke is a very funny, astute writer, and at times "Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut" is among his best. Combining a range of essays written by O'Rourke over decades of his life, the best essays cover his younger, radical Maoist life in the early 1970s before his move towards the conservative side of politics. (

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MiaCulpa | Apr 3, 2019 |

This is an eclectic collection of PJ’s writings. Some of it is downright a waste of paper – like his “concrete poetry” inclusions. However, many of the essays are classic PJ – travelling the world, commenting on the ordinariness of people and events everywhere with his famous wit. If there’s a connection between each article, I missed it. But you can certainly see his growth and evolution as a writer.

Having gone to Miami University, PJs alma mater, I was very interested in his early writing about his days in Oxford, OH. If the stories he tells are even half true then college has changed dramatically since his day. And for the better. But his writing of this period is compelling and often touching. He has some great lines, such as, “It’s hard to forgive someone when you’re beginning to agree with her.”

You can see the shift in his political attitudes, but he never really explains them. Maybe he doesn’t have to. Several of these essays are outstanding, such as his speech at the dedication of the new Cato Institute building. And his article about Hillarycare is very timely given the current healthcare debate (note: this review written in January 2010).

If you’re a PJ completest, and I am, you’ll enjoy large parts of this book. But if you’re new to PJ, start with Parliament of Whores or Eat the Rich. (

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sergerca | Jan 20, 2010 |

Generally, this book as not gotten as good reviews as other collections of O'Rourke's. It's not the writing - it's the fact that many of these essays were written in his youth, when he was a pot-smoking, whisky-drinking, ROTC building-fire bombing college student. He's a better writer now. It is interesting to the see the progression in both his writing skills and his politics.

GeekGoddess | Dec 23, 2008 |

While still interesting and witty, this book is not as good as some of O'Rourke's other work. Perhaps that is because the unifying theme is weaker, or maybe this mish-mash was work that didn't quite make the grade to be published elsewhere. (

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ForrestFamily | Nov 17, 2007 |

Not as good as some of his others. (

)

nevusmom | Jun 7, 2007 |

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Canonical title

Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut: Twenty-Five Years of P. J. O'Rourke

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1995

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Epigraph

A Forgotten Hero of the Trojan War

Thersites only clamour'd in the throng,

Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue;

Awed by no shame, by no respect controll'd,

In scandal busy, in reproaches bold;

With witty malice studious to defame;

Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim.

But chief he gloried with licentious style

To lash the great, and monarchs to revile...

Spleen to mankind his envious heart possess'd,

And much he hated all, but most the best.

-- from Alexander Pope's translation of The Iliad

Dedication

In Memory of

Dennis Loy

1938-1994

First words

Twenty-five years of writing for a living leave me with a lot of people I need to thank -- or a lot of blame I need to spread around. (Acknowledgments)

There's a long-term problem with being a writer, and the problem is all the things that, over the long term, I've written. (Introduction)

I began to write for pay in the spring of 1970, albeit that pay was mostly peanut butter sandwiches and mattress space.

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▾Book descriptions

Readers may be shocked to discover that America's most provocative (and conservative) satirist, P. J. O'Rourke, was at one time a raving pinko, with scars on his formerly bleeding heart to prove it. In Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut, O'Rourke chronicles the remarkable trajectory that took him from the lighthearted fun of the revolutionary barricades to the serious business of the nineteenth hole. How did the O'Rourke of 1970, who summarized the world of "grown-ups" as "materialism, sexual hang-ups, the Republican party, uncomfortable clothes, engagement rings, car accidents, Pat Boone, competition, patriotism, cheating, lying, ranch houses, and TV" come to be in favor of all of those things? What causes a beatnik-hippie type, comfortable sleeping on dirty mattresses in pot-addled communes - as P. J. did when he was a writer for assorted "underground" papers-to metamorphosize into a right-wing middle-aged grouch? Here, P. J. shows how his Socialist idealismand avant-garde aesthetic tendencies were cured and how he acquired a healthy and commendable interest in national defense, the balanced budget, Porsches, and Cohiba cigars. P. J. O'Rourke's message is that there's hope for all those suffering from acute Bohemianism, or as he puts it, "Pull your pants up, turn your hat around, and get a job." "From the fictionalized accounts of his career as a hard-drinking hippie to the Benchley-in-the-age-of-macho lampoon of fly fishing, Mr. O'Rourke shows anincorrigible comic gift and an eye for detail that keeps the wild stuff grounded." - The New York Times Book Review

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