Title:
Eat the Rich
Author:
P.J. O'Rourke
Publisher:
Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998
ISBN
0-87113-719-4

Ever on the look-out for something funny to read, I stopped to pick up P.J. O'Rourke's Eat the Rich at the bookstore. Mostly because to my unschooled eyes his picture on the cover reminded me of Dave Barry, whose humor usually meets my stringent requirements, which are: boogers.

Well, P.J.O'Rourke is, as many people know, a conservative columnist for the Atlantic Monthly, as yellow a conservative rag as I've ever used to housebreak a puppy. His name hadn't penetrated my personal horizon, except as one that is vaguely familiar. But since the book's cover promised that it would be funny, I proceeded to the library, where I found Eat the Rich already checked out. So while I waited for the current reader to finish the book, I picked All the Trouble in the World off the shelf to take home.

What a horror!

All the Trouble was not at all what I expected. O'Rourke embarked on a Pollyannaish rant, larded through with juvenile barbs cast at any liberals who would disagree with him. I'm afraid I didn't finish the book. I found myself arguing with him every other paragraph, which wasn't doing any good because he wasn't there.

So after a couple of weeks the library called. Eat the Rich had arrived. I went and picked it up. To my surprise the book is quite readable. O'Rourke has spent the past few years growing up considerably, possibly because he has had an opportunity to see his jokes stolen by Rush Limbaugh. Once you've seen Rush Limbaugh tell a joke, you tend not to want to repeat it.

Eat the Rich is O'Rourke's survey of economies that "work" and economies that "don't work." Of course, O'Rourke gets to decide what works and what doesn't, and he gets to ignore historical inconveniences entirely. To the extent that he does present the reader with a look at several parts of the world that aren't likely to appear in Fodor's "Most Desirable Destinations", the book is an education. To the extent that he doesn't even attempt to footnote his material, the book must be taken with a grain of salt. I didn't try to discover factual errors, but when someone embarks on a piece of work like this, then personal prejudices are bound to creep in.

If you agree that capitalism is the best economic system, and that laissez-faire policies are the best method of running an economy, then this book is in effect a self-indulgent look at a world-wide train wreck, with O'Rourke patting you on the shoulder by way of congratulations. You managed to miss that train. However, if you understand the complexities of cultures and history, then you might find O'Rourke's little excursion appallingly naive.

And since he doesn't make any booger jokes, you probably won't even laugh.