WASHINGTON BABYLON.<i> By Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein (Verso: $17 paperback, 316 pp.)</i> : FOOLS’ NAMES, FOOLS’ FACES.<i> By Andrew Ferguson (Atlantic Monthly: $22, 213 pp.)</i>

” . . . A moment of optimism in American political life, in the immediate aftermath of Watergate and the exposure of that scandal, was betrayed and destroyed. What’s remarkable, indeed, is how the Nixon era, when contrasted with the current state of affairs, seems like an age of enlightenment and promise. Most people still looked upon government as a positive good, capable of redressing economic and social injustices. To that end, President Nixon passed a wide variety of environmental laws, created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and even felt obliged to rebuke corporations for profiteering.”

-- Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein

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“You don’t have to be a latter-day Henry David Thoreau--and who would want to be?--to note the central irony of the Information Age: As our means of communication accelerate, there are fewer things of interest to talk about and fewer interesting people to talk about them with. Anyone who doubts this need only sign on to one of the ‘chat rooms’ offered by CompuServe or American Online. ‘Megadeth rules!’ one communicator will argue. ‘Megadeth sucks!’ another will counter, and thus the conversation will develop, for hours and hours.”

-- Andrew Ferguson

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Sometimes point-of-view journalism is like straight bourbon: You have to want the burn as it goes down. Here, from the political left, writers Cockburn and Silverstein lay waste to Washington, D.C., its culture, habits and characters. Beware of the hangover; the whole capital is rotten, even worse than you suspected.

If you prefer things lighter, with humor as chaser, here from the right is Ferguson’s collection of short, satirical columns from the 1990s. His targets are predictable and his wit reliable. But, alas, modern America hardly comes off looking better. What’s a person to do? Pour yourself a drink.