In Conversation: On the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land

P. J. O’Rourke has written nineteen books on subjects as diverse as politics and cars and etiquette and economics. His Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He is a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, a contributing writer for the Washington Post editorial page, and the editor in chief of the free web magazine American Consequences. A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land (Atlantic Monthly Press) is a humorous look at the current state of these United States. P.J. O’Rourke says we’ve worked ourselves into a state of anger and perplexity, and it’s no surprise because perplexed and angry is what America has always been about. Consider essays such as “An Inaugural Address I’d Like to Hear” (ask not what your country can do for you. Ask me how I can get the hell out of here); “Sympathy vs. Empathy,” which considers whether it’s better to hold people’s hands or bust into their heads; or his impassioned argument on licensing politicians (we license doctors, we license dentists, we license beauticians…). The New York Times Book Review observed that “Outspoken conservatives have long been a minority in comedy […] which provided an opportunity for P.J. O’Rourke, who for decades cornered the market for prominent right-wing humorists. […] If his wry essays have a mission statement … it’s this: Starchy Republicanism is really, really fun.”

Dave Barry is the author of thousands of humor columns and dozens of books, including Lessons from Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog (Simon & Schuster), which explores the ways in which his dog is wiser than he is; Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Turns 40, and Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up. He plays guitar (although he admits, not well) for the Rock Bottom Remainders and is probably the only living human who has both won a Pulitzer Prize and had a sewage lifting station named after him.