Politics and the American Language: Reviews, Rants, and Commentary, 2011-2018

by William O'Rourke

Overview

This new collection is William O’Rourke’s third volume of a diverse mixture of long and short articles and it extends his reputation as a brilliant social historian and curmudgeonly contrarian. More political than his previous two volumes (Signs of the Literary Times, 1993; Confessions of a Guilty Freelancer, 2012), it additionally serves as an illuminating memoir of his literary generation. These provocative pieces analyze the contemporary turbulent period, from the Obama years to the dawn of the Trump era. O’Rourke is an acclaimed novelist (Idle Hands) and nonfiction author (The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left) and he has never been shy of tackling big subjects, which he manages with acuity and finesse. He turns his perceptive vision often toward literary subjects, the ongoing abuse of language, but always places the books he discusses in a broader cultural and political context. His depictions of both lettered and political figures, such as Kurt Vonnegut, Daniel Berrigan, Donald Trump, Ken Burns, Bernie Sanders and Flannery O’Connor are fresh and original. An informative, startling, and entertaining collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566494038
Publisher:	Welcome Rain Publishers
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM O’ROURKE is the author of four novels, The Meekness of Isaac, Idle Hands, Criminal Tendencies, and Notts, and six works of nonfiction. He was a weekly columnist for five years for the Chicago Sun-Times and was the founding director of the University of Notre Dame’s graduate creative writing program and is currently the Editor Emeritus of the Notre Dame Review.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Part I Reviews

Instructs and Entertains 14

Up Against the Workshop 26

The Media Burglary and the Media 31

Days of Rage 46

Patty Prevails 50

Richard and Roger 54

The Miracle of Dan Berrigan 65

O'Connor/Giroux 69

Part II Rants

The Great Refudiator 73

Reality-Based Shooter 75

Mourning Becomes Them 77

Mommie Baddest 79

Class Warfare 81

Keyes to the Caindom 83

Saving Social Security, Not 85

Not Saving Social Security, Again (an Update) 87

The Superfluity of Iowa 88

The First Lady's Lack of Firsts 90

Dr. Gingrich and Mr. Chucky 92

Our Postsatirical Primaries 94

A Primary History Primer 96

Halftime in Pink America 98

Contraception Wars and Woes 100

Barney Rosset U 103

Oh, Rush, Poor Rush 105

The Oak Ridge Three 107

Torture? What Torture? 111

To Kill a "Second" Novel 113

My Hillary Problem-and Yours 115

Accidental Presidencies 117

Revenge of the Sixties 119

The Haunting of Hillary 121

Ted's Excellent Mansplaining 123

Transforming The Donald 126

Clinton Exhaustion 128

Bye Bye Bernie 130

The Birther Business 132

Pensive Pence 135

Hillary's Voice 137

It's the Voter Suppression, Stupid! 139

Similarities 141

Trump, Trumped, Trumpery 143

Trump Monkeys 145

Trump Rising 148

Richie Rich, Baby Boomers, and, Look Out, 2018 Looming 150

"What a Dump!" the Presidency, That Is 153

Ken Bums, Boy Capitalist, and The Vietnam War (Part I) 156

Ken Burns, Boy Capitalist, and The Vietnam War (Part II) 159

Cuba and Carnage 162

Brett Kavanaugh, a Suit, and the Bro Culture 165

Part III Commentary

Whither the New Catholic Left? 170

Profile: R. D. Skillings, Resolute Character 192

Profile: Judith Shahn, Greenwich Village, circa 1973 195

Irish Times Times Two: On Michael Collins 198

Making Poverty More Bearable 207

Edward Dahlberg: Letters to a Young Would-Be Writer 218

Acknowledgments 245

Index 247