Press Release:
The University of West Florida Jerry Maygarden Lecture Series will feature P.J. O’Rourke Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts Mainstage Theatre, Building 82. O’Rourke will present “Pirates in Neckties: Government vs. the Free Market, Which is Worse?†The presentation represents the fifth lecture in the series which honors special contributions to public service. A reception and booksigning will be held immediately following the lecture. The event is free and open to the public.
“We are very excited to have P.J. O’Rourke, whom I consider to be a national treasure, coming to campus as our fifth Maygarden distinguished lecturer,†said Jane Halonen, dean of the UWF College of Arts and Sciences.
The bestselling author of 12 books, including “Driving like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-bending, Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed To Be,†O’Rourke has been named “the funniest writer in America†by both Time and the Wall Street Journal. O’Rourke is currently the H.L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. O’Rourke attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and graduate school at Johns Hopkins where he was a Woodrow Wilson fellow.
Created by the Florida House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker John Thrasher, the Maygarden Lecture Series was established in 2000 in honor of House majority leader Jerry Maygarden for his service to the people of Florida.