How the hell did this happen? The election of 2016

For those interested in one more look at the unusual road leading to the unlikely outcome of the unforgettable 2016 U.S. presidential election, humorist O'Rourke delivers a wry, dry, and occasionally laugh-out-loud take. O'Rourke's chapter headings are worth a quick glance ("A Huck so Unlike Finn"); the throwaway lines are good too ("John Kasich is a two-word Republican suicide note"), and the general content doesn't disappoint (notably Chapter 17, "Fashion Notes"). O'Rourke entertains with two ways to replace America's dreadful election process and offers a breezy roundup of POTUS hopefuls who fell by the wayside even before 2016. (Remember Lincoln Chafee?) However, O'Rourke's review of first ladies is sometimes cruel (Eleanor Roosevelt), insensitive (Betty Ford), or just plain boring (Laura Bush). In his view, America's growing discomfort with leaders has led to the selection of "someone with no means to lead us." Entertaining as O'Rourke's quips generally are, it's when he gets to the heart of the matter, discussing the mob mentality and the value of "individual dignity, individual freedom, and individual responsibility," that his work is most pointed. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Tossed-off bons mots on "this obnoxious political spectacle, the election of 2016."Longtime political satirist O'Rourke (Thrown Under the Omnibus, 2015, etc.) surprised observers during the 2016 cycle by weighing in, if without much enthusiasm, for the Democratic candidatenot to be expected for someone who had long identified with a kind of country-club conservatism. Considering what the Republicans had to offer, that's not really such a surprise, for O'Rourke has also long prided himself in contrarianism. Still, the author seems as much taken aback as any civilian by the spectacle that saw Donald Trump skyrocket over the preferred candidates, notably Jeb Bush, who, after all, was governor of Florida, "where balloting incompetence and corruption are vital to the GOP." One by one, O'Rourke examines the slate as, one by one, they fall: Chris Christie is a chump who makes bad suits look worse, Rick Perry a dimwit whose effort at wearing glasses to look intellectual convinces no one, Marco Rubio merely "the least insane candidate." Where O'Rourke hits hard on a mark, it seems almost accidental. His random remarks on Hillary Clinton's manner, for instance, eventually add up to a rather deft analysis of how the elite class operates, while the insurgencies surrounding both Trump and Bernie Sanders are two faces of the same coin, species of "internecine warfare [that] brings forth the worst from both sides." Still, even in the bloodletting and shambles, the author finds room for optimism: after all, we're not as fragmented as in 1861 ("that was polarized"), and he even ventures the view that our divisions and manifold special interests may mean that American voters "are becoming persons, not masses." It's not Hunter S. Thompson, and O'Rourke has been funnier, lots funnierbut then again, it may just be that our current political situation is no laughing matter. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.