American Humor [Paperback]

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 theAmerican 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.

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