A very contemporary and current political think piece. Not my style and very particular perspective so didn’t feel like it was informative. That said I think people like the author and will read it.

This was an entertaining political commentary that often felt like it got off topic. It was funny at times, but had its serious moments. However, the rambling parts and stories sometimes took away from the point the author was trying to make.

***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Thank you HighBridge Audio and NetGalley!***

I had never heard of P.J. O’Rourke before this book. I was drawn in by the title and wanted to check it out. This is essentially a collection of this columnist’s previous columns about politics. This made it very easy to listen to. Nothing dragged out too long before we were on to the next essay.

It was such a breathe of fresh air. Funny, self deprecating, insightful, and thought provoking. I consider myself a political junkie and also a staunch Libertarian. If you’re wondering who the person in your neighborhood who thinks you should be able to own a grenade launcher, legalize prostitution, legalize all drugs, feels that taxation is theft and wants to fire most politicians….that person is me. While I have a feeling that Mr. O’Rourke falls more on the Conservative side of Libertarian than he believes he does, he did a fairly even handed job in this book. I have already quoted a few of these essays in other forums because I felt his point was right on the money. I will have to seek out more of his work.

While I enjoy P.J.'s appearances on 'Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me', I was mixed on his latest written (well, audiobook) work - partly because he wasn't narrating and partly because of some comments throughout the non-fiction work that left me thinking "Okay, you're taking this out of context or overly exaggerating" ... like a comment in the introduction about "someone eating a bat in a Wuhan wet market".

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A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land by P.J. O’Rourke is a humorous look at today’s charged political climate. Mr. O’Rourke is a political pundit, author, reporter, and frequent guest on political shows.

This my first foray into downloaded Netgalley audio books, and after a bit of a learning curve, I have to say that I’ll happily continue to listen to books this way. As a political junky I was happy to listen to this book, since I’m familiar with the author’s views, read articles by him and listen to him on TV and other media I’m following.

A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land by P.J. O’Rourke is as funny as one can get in the current US political climate. As hard as he tries, and he tries hard, the author managed to put a smile on my face, and get a few laughs as well. As many of us realized, the country is fractured and Mr. O’Rourke begins with a fun history lesson about the Roanoke colony to make a point about polarization, along with a silly quiz to figure out on which side you’re on.

One could tell that he is not happy with any side of the political isle. Mr. O’Rourke identifies as a Libertarian, but it’s clear he looks down more on the bleeding hearts on the left, than the hypocrites on the right. He takes shots at everyone, but his observations on left seem acute, some just lazy, while the observations on the right seem to be forced in order to be perceived even handed.

I appreciate the effort the author puts in, there isn’t much one could say at this point that hasn’t been said. We’re a few week away from the general election and it seems everyone has already made up their minds. Mr. O’Rourke knows this and isn’t trying to change anyone’s mind. In fairness, in all the years of reading his work and listening to him, he has only tried to bring forth observations, never to convince someone.

The essays in this book or intelligent, charming, and often cranky. I know Mr. O’Rourke sees himself as a Libertarian, and probably a classical conservative, so I was interested to hear what he has to say on the current administration.
He’s not too happy, to say the least.

Mr. O’Rourke puts together the wide range of topics he ranted about: Founding Fathers to technology, sympathy vs. empathy, nationalism vs. patriotism, and even why the government can’t be run like a business, and more. At the end of the book, the author makes his case for the country to come together in the middle, if I was talking to him, I would say that we have no idea where the middle is, even the title of this book can’t agree on it (what is the “far middle”?)

This book is a unique and humorous perspective on a number of timely political issues. I enjoyed the narration, it was an easy and engaging listen,
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

We live in an increasingly polarized age. Television talking head, political pundits, athletes, movie stars, everyone seems to be yelling to move to the left or move to the right like some perverse square dance from hell. In the middle of all of this comes A Cry From The Far Middle. This cry is brought to us by none other than satirist extraordinaire, P. J. O’Rourke. Author of such fun works as Don’t Vote: It Just Encourages the Bastards and The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way And It Wasn’t My Fault And I’ll Never Do It Again, O’Rourke is back to start a movement towards each other instead of away from each other.

In his introduction he tells us that “America is in need of some explaining, especially at the moment. That the country is a mess is the one thing the country agrees on. And even about this we differ. Half the nation seems to be saying, “We don’t know what’s wrong with America, but we can fix it,” while the other half says, “There’s nothing wrong with America, and we can fix that.” This does not bode well for the nation. As he points out this is nothing new. Strife and bickering are nothing new. They are built into the fabric of the US. From the founding of the first British colonies there was strife. To begin with there was strife with the local population who didn’t understand that it was the White Man’s Burden to deprive natives of their food, homes, and land. O’Rourke provides a succinct and darkly humorous reading of these early conflicts.

After setting the historical stage O’Rourke launches into the breakdown. The nation is in a conflict between “Heartlanders” and “Coastals.” These breakdowns are more about ideas than anything else. There are Coastals and Heartlanders on both sides of the aisle. “Harry Truman was a Heartlander. Steve Bannon makes Heartlander tornado noises but is in fact a Coastal hurricane of know-it-all, cared-stiff self-regard. Donald Trump is a Coastal pretending to be a Heartlander, covering his oh-so-Coastal real estate scammer face with a mask of drunk-in-a-bowling-alley Heartlander bigotry. Elizabeth Warren is a Heartlander. You can tell by the middle-American banality of all her “to-do” lists.” The problem in American “is not about Heartlanders being good and Coastals being evil. It’s about their respective ability to tell the difference.” This is at the heart of our conflict.

In his next chapter O’Rourke lays out the case that the best solution to the difference between the competing visions of the Heartlander and the Coastal is what today is known as Classical Liberalism. “Civil liberties. Free speech. Property rights. Rule of law. Representative democracy. Free enterprise. Free trade. These are the ideas of Classical Liberalism. Since 1776 the fortunate among us have been living in places where those ideas were embraced.” Sadly, both sides are abandoning this excellent middle ground in an effort to dominate the other side. The call of today’s society is not to find ways to get along, but rather find ways to dominate.

In this book O’Rourke brings both sides to task for playing the power politics game of trying to rule instead of trying to work together. First he takes on those calling for socialism. “Socialism is the politicization of everything. Socialism is when the stakes in the political battle are so high that they include control of the entire socioeconomic system. In this kind of boxing match it’s the referee—the sovereign people of the United States—who’s down for the count.” Later he takes on those calling for a new nationalism. “The difference between patriotism and nationalism is the difference between the love a father has for his family and the love a Godfather has for his family—the Bonanno family, the Colombo family, the Gambino family, the Genovese family, the Lucchese family . . . Patriotism is a warm and personal business. Nationalism is another business entirely, the kind of business Tessio talks to Tom Hagen about after Tessio’s betrayal of Michael Corleone. “Tell Michael it was just business.” Both world views are zero sum and both are seeking to draw people away from the middle and towards the extremes.

O’Rourke goes after the sacred cows in our society because he knows that in the end they make the best hamburgers. Some of what he says is jarring to consider. Some of it can be a little crazy. But all of it is shot through with his typical satire. If you want to read O’Rouke tearing apart social media, Donald Trump, the “democratic” socialists and the other unpleasant issues of our time then you have come to the right place. As always, O’Rourke takes his pen and skewers both right and left. He is an equal opportunity curmudgeon. It is always a pleasure and a joy to read O’Rourke. This was no exception. It made me laugh and wince at the absurdities around me in ways that only P. J. O’Rouke can do.

L.J. Ganser did an excellent job reading the book.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Theres many a time i start reading a book and with zero knowledge of the author just KNOW its a fing White person, this book is honestly somewhat painful to read bc of all the white privilege and BS lmao. not really sure what this book was supposed to achieve? like far middle? only if you mean far to the right lol basically this book was a bunch of whiney bs.

really do love how this dinosaur talks about "young people" tho, like this book is form 2020 and he talks about millennials like they're 18 year olds now 25 and up. like ah yes anyone under the age of 45 is a complete socialist moron, sure jan.

wont deny this book has a very small handful of "well youre not wrong" and i get im biased for multiple reasons and am clearly not who this book is targeting but there is a lot of "um wtf no" going on. mostly just an annoying waste of time.

So, I didn't agree with everything, but it was funny. Sometimes, that's all you can ask for.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Is was okay. It's hard to review political books since not everyone's views are the same. O'Rourke had some good points that we're more divided than ever and Trump thrives in that element when it's one side versus another.

I feel like this book read like a political themed David Sedaris book without as much humor,

3.5 Amusing, this political pundit can make even the current and past turmoil in our country, funny. This is hard to do, now I think near impossible. I tend not to identify with any particular party, vote more for the person and their stand on the issues. Not even quite sure why one is considered a moderate, conservative, or progressive. Right? left? Currently I'm just trying to stand upright.

We get funny, albeit occasionally grumpy, anecdotes on our country from the beginning of the Roanoke colony to our near present. This might be the only item politically that has made me smile. Anyway, however I would be classified politically, I agreed with much he said. Much needed and glad I read.

Narrator was L. J. Gander and his narration gets 4 stars.

ARC from Netgalley.

My dad was a big fan of P.J. O'Rourke, but I did not fall too close to the libertarian tree. That said, maybe it's my political biases, but the title seems a little disingenuous; O'Rourke does take some shots at Pres. Trump, but he seems far more interested in making tired jokes about progressives than making tired jokes about conservatives. There really wasn't a whole lot new or fresh in here; how many times do we need to hear cracks at Pres. Clinton these days? And at one point O'Rourke aims a crack at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that was literally an ancient blonde joke. If a humorist is being lazy with his jokes, what is there left worth listening to?

Best-selling humorist P.J. O’Rourke is back to share some thoughts about America in 2020. In A Cry from the Far Middle, he mixes history, literature, pop culture, personal anecdotes, and civics in a series of essays that bring a little logic and perspective back to American politics.

O'Rourke uses his signature style to compare the early history of the colonists to the unrest in the country today. He talks about the differences between Coastals and Heartlanders. He argues the difference between government and politics, and he points out the positive points to the current political climate. He rants about the new billionaires in their t-shirts and shorts (“let’s make rich people uncomfortable again!”), and explains what it means now that puritanism is back.

He talks social media, fake news, sympathy and empathy, education, drug culture, the electoral college, foreign policy, journalism, and his fantasy presidential debate. And maybe most importantly, he encourages us all to relax a little, take a step back to look at the bigger picture, and understand that this is all part of the game. America is not broken. It’s just . . . America.

You need to be aware of what you’re getting into with P.J. O’Rourke. He sounds humble and engaging, using a bit of “aw, shucks, I’m from Ohio” to draw you in, and then he hits you between the eyes with ancient playwrights, classical philosophers, Marshall McLuhan, Ogden Nash, George Orwell, Mark Twain, modern YA, and a host of other great thinkers and talkers to help him make his point. He is a master with words, and he will use them in rhymes, alliteration, wisecracks, and witticisms to bend you to his ideas.

I’m not one to talk much politics these days. I’ve been avoiding reading about it, posting about it, talking about it, or watching it on media, social or otherwise. But I can get behind a book like this. It’s smart without being judgmental, savvy without being servile, clever without being obnoxious, and just plain funny. There are a lot of political books coming out these days, but this is the only one I can recommend to anyone, no matter how you plan on voting.

I got the audio version of A Cry from the Far Middle, and while I was disappointed that it wasn’t read by the author himself, I thought narrator L.J. Ganser did an excellent job of keeping things smart, witty, and down to earth. I think he captures O’Rourke’s voice to perfection, reading each essay with the same attitude and warmth that he would have done himself.

I really enjoyed A Cry from the Far Middle, and I highly recommend it as an audio book to anyone who is tired of being pulled by the far left or the far right, and who is needing some good, old fashioned wisdom and humor.

A copy of the audio book for A Cry from the Far Middle was provided by HighBridge Audio, with many thanks.

A hilarious romp through American politics and American life. O’Rourke masterfully uses humor to take the reader through a highlights tour of American philosophical, social and political history and contemporary debates. Witty and entertaining, this audio could profitably be used as one recommended reading in American Government 101 with the appropriate context on the nature of satire.

I think I would have enjoyed this more in ebook form vs audiobook so I could have skimmed a bit. I enjoy PJ O'Roake, but I feel like this is more a skimmable book than one that needs to be read to you.