Table of Contents

1: Introduction 2: Pre-Preface: As We Go to Press . . . 3: Preface: Manifesto for Extreme Moderation 4: Introduction: O Beautiful for . . . Pilgrim Feet? 5: One Nation-Divided as Hell 6: Coastals vs. Heartlanders 7: Goodbye to Classical Liberalism: "It's the End of the World!" 8: Big Fat Politics 9: But Thank You Anyway, Partisan Politicians 10: Robin Hood Arithmetic 11: On the Other Hand . . . Just Give Them the Money 12: It's Time to Make Rich People Uncomfortable Again 13: Negative Rights vs. Positive Rights: It's Positively Confusing 14: Sympathy vs. Empathy: Is It Better to Hold People's Hands or Bust into Their Heads? 15: Patriotism vs. Nationalism 16: Big Brother (and Everybody Else) Is Watching You: Thoughts on Rereading 1984 17: Whose Bright Idea Was It to Make Sure That Every Idiot in the World Was in Touch with Every Other Idiot? 18: A Brief Historical Digression on How Communication Has Devolved 19: And While I'm Ranting Against the Digital Age Let Me Not Forget to Excoriate an Aspect of Social Media that Lacks Even Sociability . . .On the Fresh Hell of The Internet of Things 20: Lessons in Fake News from Two Old Masters of the Form 21: Woke to the Sound of Laughter 22: Why Kids R Commies: And Never Mind How the Free Market Bankrupted that Backwards R Big Box Store that Once Held a Greedy Monopoly on Selling Toys 23: Knowing Write from Left 24: Educating My Kids 25: My Own Lousy Education And How It May Be of Aid to the Nation 26: What We Can Learn from the Sixties Drug Culture 27: Can the Government Be Run Like a Business? 28: Two, Four, Six, Eight, Who Do We Appreciate . . .The Electoral College! 29: Is a Reasonable, Sensible, Moderate Foreign Policy Even Possible? 30: The Inaugural Address I'd Like To Hear the President-Whoever It May Be-Deliver 31: My Own Personal Fantasy League Presidential Election 32: A License to Drive (Me Crazy) 33: The Founding Fathers Have Some Words With Us 34: What I Like About U.(S.A.) 35: Acknowledgments

About the Author

P.J. O'Rourke has written eighteen books on subjects as diverse as politics and cars and etiquette and economics. He is a columnist for the Daily Beast. He lives in rural New England, as far away from the things he writes about as he can get.

Reviews

O'Rourke has a nice, world-weary way with the US's present political follies... He hasn't lost his gift for the brutally effective one-liner. * Guardian on HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? *
scabrously witty, inventive and rich in historical detail... O'Rourke is never less than pleasurable company. There were chapters in this book I read twice just for the fun of it... I am already looking forward to the companion volume What The Hell Happens Next? * The Times on HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? *
O'Rourke has a real eye for the vagaries of American politics and, on occasion, piercing insight. * Observer on HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? *