Political satirist O’Rourke grew up in Ohio in a family that owned a car dealership. That’s where and when he first learned to love American cars and appreciate their deep connection to the culture. In this tantalizing book, O’Rourke veers back and forth between essays he wrote for several magazines, including Car and Driver and Esquire, from his youth and more recently. The result is an insightful look not just at the American love affair with cars, but also at one man’s changing outlook on life, all of it fast-paced and over the top. Looking back from the safety and soundness of middle age, O’Rourke takes his younger self to task for excessive skid-marking and sexual escapades. But the older version of O’Rourke is as fun-loving as the younger, with an unabashed appreciation of the bone-rattling fun of speed. His essays recall adventures at the Baja 1000 and NASCAR, with rich detail of assorted characters and their cars and motorcycles. Notwithstanding long-time praise of European and Japanese design, he offers full-throated defense of American car design for American sensibilities and living conditions. Even readers who know nothing about cars and motorcycles will appreciate the joy and hilarity of this book.