"I began to write for pay in the spring of 1970," comments P.J. O'Rourke. "To tell the truth I didn't even mean to be a writer, I meant to be a race car driver, but I didn't have a race car." Fortunately for us, he had to settle for writing. From his early pieces for National Lampoon, through his classic reporting as Rolling Stone's International Affairs editor, and his brilliant, inimitable political journalism, O'Rourke has been consistently funny and often correct in his sharp analysis. Spanning four decades, the selections here—picked out by the self-critical author himself—originate in such books as Parliament of Whores, Holidays in Hell, Give War a Chance, and The CEO of the Sofa.