PJ O'Rourke, a best-selling American satirist, columnist and political commentator, has died at the age of 74.

He defied the leftward trend of American humour - particularly the "gonzo" style of irreverent journalism popularised by writers like Hunter S Thompson - by offering a more conservative, but equally cutting and iconoclastic, critique of the nation's culture and politics.

He wrote over 20 books, including two best-sellers, A Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance.

A member of the Baby Boom generation, he first debuted on the national stage as editor of the storied humour magazine National Lampoon in the 1970s.

O'Rourke went on to work as a freelancer for Atlantic Monthly, Esquire and Vanity Fair, and serve as foreign-affairs desk chief for Rolling Stone.

One of his more memorable lines was that Democrats promise that government will make you "smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn", while Republicans say that government doesn't work - then get elected and prove it.