The nation's leading political satirist traverses the world, exploring the power of money, ruminating on the world's varieties of capitalism and socialism, and offering his own hilarious primer on economics. 150,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo. A conservative, prosperous, American journalist gadding around the world laughing at all the ways less successful nations screw up their economy--this might not sound like the recipe for a great read, unless you're Rush Limbaugh, but if that journalist is P.J. O'Rourke you can be sure that you'll enjoy the ride even if you don't agree with the politics. Although Eat the Rich is subtitled A Treatise on Economics , O'Rourke spends relatively few pages tackling the complexities of monetary theory. He's much happier when flying from Sweden to Hong Kong to Tanzania to Moscow, gleefully recording every economic goof he can find. When he visits post-Communist Russia and finds a country that is as messed up by capitalism as it was by Communism, O'Rourke mixes jokes about black-market shoes with disturbing insights into a nation on the verge of collapse. P.J. O'Rourke is more than a humorist, he's an experienced international journalist with a lot of frequent-flyer miles, and this gives even his funniest riffs on the world's problems the ring of truth. In his latest, humorist O'Rourke (The Enemies List, LJ 4/15/96) sets out to explain economics, a discipline he says is little understood because it is (a) complex and (b) boring. As if to prove these points, when O'Rourke, normally a funny guy, goes nose-to-nose with hard-core economics things get complicated and, well, a little boring. He atones, though, with loopy observations about some of the have and have-not countries he visited in his research for the book. On Russia's similarity to the United States: "To an American used to cute, fussy little Western Europe, Russia is like mail from home. News that your dog died, maybe, but news from home nevertheless." And on Tanzanian wildlife: "The Cape Buffalo is just a cow, but a gigantic and furious one?the bovine as superhero, the thing that fantasizing Herefords wish would burst upon the scene between feed lot and Wendy's." Dull patches aside, this is not your father's economics text?it's way more fun. Recommended for all public libraries. -?Jim G. Burns, Ottumwa, IA Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. O'Rourke is supposed to be a conservative humorist. His new book starts out slow, partly because he seems to be straining to be funny. (These jokes are so strained, you could feed 'em to the baby and so bland the baby wouldn't sue for parental malpractice when it grew up.) Well, he is writing on a topic, economics, that he admits is pretty dull, theoretically, and when he turns to surveying practical economics by means of trips to places that exemplify different economic practices and their good and bad outcomes, he and we are both relieved. He starts on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to demonstrate "Good Capitalism." Chaotic Albania is his example of "Bad Capitalism," Sweden of "Good Socialism" (though O'Rourke doesn't believe in such a thing), and Cuba of "Bad Socialism." After retreating to the didacticism of the opening chapters to review "Econ. 101 for Kicks," he takes us to four places in economic flux: Russia, Tanzania, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In each, he finds plenty of people affected by the changes who have something to say about them. If the joke quotient goes down, that of traveler's fascination rises considerably; so, correspondingly, does interest for readers (the later jokes are better, too). O'Rourke finishes with praise for free market capitalism, of course, but that shows him off as more a libertarian than a conservative, doesn't it? Whatever--the book winds up being pretty good. Ray Olson ...[a] funny, insightful book. -- National Review , Cristopher Rapp ...a delightful collection of anecdotes and one-liners. Those who insist on leavening their entertainment with social significance can always watch public television. -- The New York Times Book Review , Peter Passell Mr. O'Rourke brings to the task a keen eye for ironic detail and an aphorist's wit.... a charming read. -- The Wall Street Journal , James Taranto In P. J. O'Rourke's classic best-seller Parliament of Whores, he attempted to explain the entire United States government. Now, in his most ambitious book since, he takes on an even broader subject, but one that is dear to us all-wealth. What is it? How do you get it? Or, as P.J. says, "Why do some places prosper and thrive, while others just suck?" The obvious starting point is Wall Street. P.J. takes the reader on a scary, hilarious, and enlightening visit to the New York Stock Exchange, explaining along the way stocks, bonds, debentures, commodities, derivatives-and why the floor of the exchange is America's last refuge for nonpsychotic litterers. P.J. then sets off on a world tour to investigate funny econ