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.