The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way...And It Wasn't My Fault...And I'll Never Do It Again - Hardcover

O'Rourke, P. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1611856116 ISBN 13: 9781611856118

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2014

Synopsis

A hilarious look at the ageing baby boomer generation from P.J. O'Rourke.

About this title

Review

P.J. O'Rourke and Dave Barry in Conversation

In the first paragraph of the prologue to his new book, The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way... And It Wasn't My Fault... And I'll Never Do It Again, political humor writer P.J. O'Rourke declares in no uncertain terms that he is "full of crap." Similarly, in the introduction to his upcoming book, You Can Date Boys When You're Forty, humor columnist Dave Barry explains that his book, despite its subtitle "Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About," is not about parenting.

It's easy to imagine that when these two bestselling authors and longtime pals get together, commiserative silliness ensues. But in this case, no imagination is necessary. We popped in on an email exchange between these two masters of existential trolling. Here's what happened:

Dave Barry: P.J. — I loved The Baby Boom which manages to be both hilarious and insightful. What I want to know is: How did you remember all that stuff? Especially about the '60s. Didn't you take drugs? Of course not! Neither did I! Drugs are bad! But my memories of that era are very purple-hazy, whereas you seem to remember every detail of everything that happened. How did you do that?

P.J. O'Rourke: I made it up. I'm a professional reporter. I'm PAID to make things up. Actually, I do remember a lot about the '60s. Probably because I still know a lot of the same people. And they're still yelling at me about things I did back then. Keeps memories fresh. Sort of like a wife. Just kidding, dear. Sort of like a first wife. And I loved You Can Date Boys When You're Forty. You admit you went to a Justin Bieber concert. Kind of pushing the envelope even for a confessional memoir. You're brave, dude, brave.

DB: I did indeed go to a Justin Bieber concert, because my daughter really really really wanted to go because she LOVED Justin Bieber. It was terrifying. I was in Coral Gables, Florida, in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew passed over and nearly took off the roof of the home in which I was cowering. I understood then why the noise of a hurricane is always compared to a freight train. What it SHOULD be compared to is a Justin Bieber concert. Given the choice, I'd rather sit through Andrew again.

PJO: When I pick my daughters up from school they, for some reason I can't imagine, don't want to listen to Rush Limbaugh, and so they tune the radio to what sounds to me like somebody donated 200 drum sets and an Auto-Tune to a juvenile delinquent corrections facility. But does this mean today's music sucks? Yes.

Read the full conversation on Omnivoracious.

About the Author

P. J. O'Rourke was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, and attended Miami University and Johns Hopkins. He began writing funny things in 1960s "underground" newspapers, became editor-in-chief of "National Lampoon," then spent 20 years reporting for "Rolling Stone" and "The Atlantic Monthly" as the world's only trouble-spot humorist, going to wars, riots, rebellions, and other "Holidays in Hell" in more than 40 countries. He's written 16 books on subjects as diverse as politics and cars and etiquette and economics. His book about Washington, "Parliament of Whores," and his book about international conflict and crisis, "Give War a Chance," both reached #1 on the "New York Times" best-seller list. He is a contributing editor at "The Weekly Standard," H. L. Mencken fellow at the Cato Institute, a member of the editorial board of "World Affairs" and a regular panelist on NPR's "Wait... Wait... Don't Tell Me." He lives with his family in rural New England, as far away from the things he writes about as he can get.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1611856116
• ISBN 13: 9781611856118
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288