Having unraveled the mysteries of Washington in his classic best-seller
Parliament of Whores and the mysteries of economics in Eat the Rich, one
of our shrewdest and most mordant foreign correspondents now turns his
attention to what is these days the ultimate mystery -- America's
foreign policy. Although he has written about foreigners and foreign
affairs for years, P.J. O'Rourke has, like most Americans, never really
thought about foreign policy. Just as a dog owner doesn't have a "dog
policy," says P.J., "we feed foreigners, take care of them, give them
treats, and when absolutely necessary, whack them with a rolled up
newspaper." But in Peace Kills, P.J. finally sets out to make sense of
America's "Great Game" (no, not the slot machines in Vegas). He visits
countries on the brink of conflict, in the grips of it, and still
reeling from it, starting with Kosovo, where he discovers that "whenever
there's injustice, oppression, and suffering, America will show up six
months late and bomb the country next to where it's happening." From
there, it's on to Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq, where
P.J. witnesses both the start and finish of hostilities. P.J. also
examines the effect of war and peace on the home front -- from the
absurd hassles of airport security to the hideous specter of anthrax
(luckily the only threats in his mail are from credit card companies).
Peace Kills is P.J. O'Rourke at his most incisive and relevant -- an
eye-opening look at a world much changed since he declared in his
number-one national best-seller Give War a Chance that the most
troubling aspect of war is sometimes peace itself.
