American Satire: An Anthology of Writings from Colonial Times to the Present

By Nicholas Bakalar

Book Overview

This entertaining, informative collection covers the best of American satire--from Ben Franklin's cutting satiric attacks to Nathaniel Hawthorne's Celestial Railroad, Calvin Trillin's Old Marrieds, Mark Twain's American Abroad to P.J. O'Rourke's The Innocents Abroad--Updated, a late 20th-century take on Twain's classic piece. "Entertaining and satisfying...An excellent introduction."--Amazon.com.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452011744
• ISBN13: 9780452011748
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 482 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable

I'm 14 and read "American Satire" because I am very interested in the subject. This book was, in my opinion, was enjoyable and interesting. Some of the satire was over my head, therefore a little boring, but the nice thing about short stories is that you can always go back to them. Benjamin Franklin, Will Rogers, Ambrose Bierce, and Art Buchwald were my favorites. This book also gives a little background information on the authors who wrote the stories. My only problem with the book itself was that some of the stories are just excerpts from larger books. I would've liked to see the complete version of the "The Devil's Dictionary" because it is extremely funny. But if your interested in satire or American literature, this is something that you'll want to check out.