The paramount question answered in this absorbing collection of essays is: What's so funny about American humor, and why? What are American humor's characteristics? How have they evolved and displayed themselves? Which characteristics are distinctively, or even uniquely, American? Originally appearing as an issue of the American Quarterly, these essays take a close look at American humor from revolutionary times to the present day, and focus particularly on the neglected trends of the past fifty years. Looking at American comic figures as diverse--and even surprising--as Mark Twain and Richard Nixon, at various vehicles for American humor such as comic strips, radio and television, movies, and standup comedians, and at different genres of humor including political, ethnic, and feminist humor, this book brings a lively new perspective to the study of American culture.
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"Dudden...[is] undoubtedly the most prolific and perceptive scholar of American political humor."--History: Reviews of New Books
"Fortunately for readers of this sprightly and perceptive volume....Dudden and his fellow critics [keep] the humor bubbling without its drifting off as so much hot air....Revelatory and stimulating."--Kirkus Reviews
"Dudden has put together an impressive collection on both the range and the significance of American humor."--The Georgia Review
"An important collection of essays on American humor....Serves to sharpen our ongoing debate on the subject."--Philadelphia Inquirer
About the Author
Arthur Power Dudden is at Bryn Mawr College.
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- Laughing Screaming: Modern Hollywood Horror and Comedy (Film and Culture) by William Paul in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Signet Book of American Humor by Regina Barreca in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- The Fus Fixico Letters: A Creek Humorist in Early Oklahoma by Alexander Posey in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever by Josh Karp in Back Matter
- Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews by Joseph Telushkin in Back Matter
See all 9 books citing this book
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