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

by William O'Rourke

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.

352 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2020

About the author

William O'Rourke (born 1945) is an American writer of both novels and volumes of nonfiction; he is the author of the novels The Meekness of Isaac (Thomas Y. Crowell, Co., 1974), Idle Hands (Delacorte Press, 1981), Criminal Tendencies (E. P. Dutton, 1987), and Notts (Marlowe & Co, 1996), as well as the nonfiction books, The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left (Thomas Y. Crowell, Co., 1972), Signs of the Literary Times: Essays, Reviews, Profiles (SUNY Press, 1993), and On Having a Heart Attack: A Medical Memoir (U of Notre Dame P, 2006). He is the editor of On the Job: Fiction About Work by Contemporary American Writers (Random House, 1977) and the co-editor of Notre Dame Review: The First Ten Years (U of Notre Dame P, 2009). His book, Campaign America ‘96: The View From the Couch, first published in 1997 (Marlowe & Co.), was reissued in paperback with a new, updated epilogue in 2000. A sequel, Campaign America 2000: The View From the Couch, was published in 2001.

He has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships (for the novels Idle Hands and Criminal Tendencies) and he was the first James Thurber Writer-in-Residence in 1984 at the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, and was awarded a New York State Council on the Arts award for his first novel, The Meekness of Isaac. On Having a Heart Attack was awarded a Bronze Medal in ForeWord Magazine’s 2006 Book of the Year awards, Health category.