Holidays in Heck
A Former War Correspondent Experiences Frightening Vacation Fun
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2.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Humorous essays from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author on travel, late-life parenting, and other perils.
P. J. O'Rourke, hailed as "one of America's most hilarious writers" by Time, is the author of the classic travelogue Holidays in Hell, in which he traversed the globe on a fun-finding mission to what were then some of the most desperate places on the planet, including Warsaw, Managua, and Belfast.
In Holidays in Heck, O'Rourke embarks on supposedly more comfortable and allegedly less dangerous travels—often with family in tow—which mostly leave him wishing he were under artillery fire again. The essays take O'Rourke on a whirlwind of adventures, from the National Mall in Washington to a family ski vacation (to the Aspen of the Midwest—Ohio—where the highest point of elevation is the six-foot ski instructor that his wife thinks is cute). He also experiences a harrowing horseback ride across the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The result is a hilarious and often moving portrait of life in the fast lane—only this time as a husband and father.
"In this cheeky follow-up to Holidays in Hell, former war correspondent O'Rourke trades battle zones for more appealing travel destinations, often with his family in tow . . . O'Rourke loses none of his sly humor, finding many opportunities to lampoon American politics under his new guise as a traveling family man." —Publishers Weekly
"[O'Rourke] provides colorful, earthy descriptive passages regarding stag hunts in Britain, extreme horseback riding in the wilds of Kyrgyzstan, a poignant look at his bout with cancer and a brief jaunt to Kabul, Afghanistan." —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this cheeky follow-up to Holidays in Hell, former war correspondent O'Rourke trades battle zones for more appealing travel destinations, often with his family in tow. Deciding after the Iraq War that he was "too old to be scared stiff and too stiff to sleep on the ground," O'Rourke switches to travel writing after 21 years covering various conflicts. The exotic a sailing trip to the Gal pagos Islands in "Republicans Evolving" or a horse trek through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan in "A Horse of a Different Color" rub shoulders with the more mundane a family skiing vacation in "Round on the Ends and Hi!' in the Middle," a trip to Disneyland in "The Decline and Fall of Tomorrow" and all of them share O'Rourke's razor wit. The family skiing vacation is made more hilarious by its being in Ohio (his eldest daughter doesn't like long hills), and the plethora of wildlife observed during the Gal pagos jaunt become stand-ins for our country's political parties. The majority of essays were assigned by Forbes Life and reworked by O'Rourke for this collection; "Capitol Gains," the O'Rourke family's aborted tour of the Washington, D.C., sights is previously unpublished. O'Rourke loses none of his sly humor, finding many opportunities to lampoon American politics under his new guise as a traveling family man.
