University Lectures to present satirist P.J. O’Rourke Oct. 19

University Lectures to present satirist P.J. O’Rourke Oct. 19October 12, 2004Patrick Farrellpmfarrel@syr.edu

Best-selling author and leading political satirist P.J. O’Rourke will share his insights about the presidential campaign as the next University Lectures speaker. O’Rourke’s lecture is set for Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

O’Rourke has earned a reputation as one of America’s premier political critics. He is familiar to television audiences from his frequent appearances on VH1 and C-SPAN, and on such programs as “Good Morning America.” O’Rourke’s books have been translated into a dozen languages and have been best sellers worldwide. Three have been New York Times bestsellers: “Parliament of Whores” and “Give War a Chance,” both of which went to #1, and “All the Trouble in the World.” Both Time and The Wall Street Journal have called him “the funniest writer in America.” In his most recent book, “Peace Kills: America’s Fun New Imperialism,” O’Rourke casts a keen and mordant eye on current U.S. foreign policy.

After graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and attending the graduate program at Johns Hopkins, O’Rourke began his career of skewering both the left and the right with razor-sharp one-liners. Among the many publications for which O’Rourke has written are The National Lampoon, which he first joined in 1973, becoming editor-in-chief in 1978; Automobile; American Spectator; Playboy; Esquire; Vanity Fair; and Harper’s. He was also the foreign affairs desk chief for Rolling Stone. Currently he is the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow of the Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. O’Rourke divides his time between New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

The University Lectures is a cross-disciplinary lecture series that brings to the University individuals of exceptional accomplishment in the areas of architecture and design; the humanities and the sciences; and public policy, management and communications. The series is supported by the generosity of the University’s Trustees, alumni and friends. Upcoming lectures scheduled for the fall semester include: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (Nov. 9) and architecture critic Paul Goldberger (Nov. 16).

The O’Rourke lecture is also part of the Syracuse Symposium 2004: Humor series.

More information on the upcoming University Lectures speakers can be found on the web at http://provost.syr.edu/lectures/current.asp.