Reconciliation by Peter Orvetti

From the Publisher

Before he turned 30, Peter Orvetti had jumped from socially conservative Christian to radical-left Hindu, enrolled in Harvard Divinity School, developed a serious alcohol problem, pioneered Internet journalism and claimed a small piece of history in the 2000 presidential election. In this wry and witty memoir, Orvetti lets us in on his Catholic upbringing whose precepts were laid waste after he “found God at a Dunkin’ Donuts.” What follows is a spiritual sojourn to India, a trip across America and back with the legendary Green Tortoise hippie bus—and a nasty booze and cough syrup habit that will force him into rehab.

Along the way we meet a bizarre cast of characters, from transcendental meditation devotees to preening game show hosts to self-serving politicians’ shills. And somehow Orvetti manages stints at several of Washington, D.C.’s biggest thought leaders, including the Cato Institute and National Journal, all while doing pioneering journalism on the still novel Internet.

Reconciliation: A Half Life charts his remarkable intellectual voyage that’s by turns amusing, touching and, at times, horrifying. It’s a dizzying voyage into the contemporary soul, characterized by vulnerability, self-deprecating honesty and a constant searching for spiritual wholeness. But it’s also an insiders’ voyage that touches first-hand many of his generation’s cultural icons—from Who Wants to be a Millionaire? to a certain red-faced president—and finds humor in the absurdity of the modern milieu.

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