Humour Books

Book SynopsisIn 1878 Gustave Flaubert looked on in horror as his publisher picked up a manuscript from the mysterious stage actress Sarah Bernhardt and published it in place of a new edition of his latest work, and watched it go on to become an instant bestseller, achieving international fame. Narrated by a chair in a hot-air balloon, In the Clouds is a light-hearted, humorous tale that follows a character reminiscent of Bernhardt through the skies above Paris. Sadly the story sunk into obscurity, lying out of print in the English language for much of the twentieth century. Featuring the original illustrations by Georges Clairin, and in a fresh edit of the first English translation, this edition seeks to bring the tale to a new generation of readers.Trade Review'Apart from its highly original premise… its jaunty style proved her to be a lively, amusing writer.' (Robert Gottlieb)Table of ContentsIn the Clouds, Note on the Text and Illustrations, Notes, Biographical Note

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Book Synopsis'There's only control, control of ourselves and others. And you have to decide what part you play in that control.' Cast your eye over the comfortable north London home of a family of high ideals, radical politics and compassionate feelings. Julia, Paul and their two daughters, Olivia and Sophie, look to a better society, one they can effect through ORGAN:EYES, the campaigning group they fundraise for and march with, supporting various good causes. But is it all too good to be true? When the surface has been scratched and Paul's identity comes under the scrutiny of the press, a journey into the heart of the family begins. Who are these characters really? Are any of them the 'real' them at all? Every Trick in the Book is a genre-deconstructing novel that explodes the police procedural and undercover-cop story with nouveau romanish glee. Hood overturns the stone of our surveillance society to show what really lies beneath.Trade ReviewPraise for This Good Book: 'Astonishing, funny, bonkers, charming, disturbing, challenging, audacious, and, ultimately, profound.' (Melissa Fu, author of Peach Blossom Spring) 'So dark and poetic, so original and intelligent, and so utterly unputdownable.' (Tim Ewins, author of We Are Animals) 'If you like your fiction fresh, original and challenging, This Good Book is for you.' (Simon van der Velde, author of Backstories) 'The realisation of where the duo's commitment to their art is taking them is genuinely chilling. Hood's debut has a dark, compelling urgency.' (Alastair Mabbott, The Herald) 'Highly original, darkly funny... a compulsive read.' (Leigh Chambers) 'A novel about Glasgow, about art, and about obsession. This Good Book will have you gripped from the opening chapter to its disturbing conclusion. Iain Hood is an original new voice in Scottish fiction.' (Colette Paul)

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling author of Redneck Manifesto and Shit Magnet lampoons every imaginable aspect of human sexuality.

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Book SynopsisThis is the Would You Rather...? book for which audiences have been asking. The authors' trademark imagination and humor are on display in this no-holds-barred assortment of devilish dilemmas. The perfect icebreaker, Would You Rather...?: The Dirty Version captures the sexual, the seedy, the sardonic, and the silly in the unique tone that has made the Would You Rather...? series popular with readers of all ages.

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Book SynopsisNow a comedy series on Netflix! From the stand-up comedian, actress, and host beloved for her cheeky swagger, unique voice, and unapologetic frankness comes a book of “zesty and hilarious” (Publishers Weekly) essays for fans of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling and We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union.If you’ve watched television or movies in the past couple of years, you’ve seen Michelle Buteau. With scene-stealing roles in Always Be My Maybe, First Wives Club, Someone Great, Russian Doll, and Tales of the City; a reality TV show and breakthrough stand-up specials, including her headlining show Welcome to Buteaupia on Netflix; and two podcasts (Late Night Whenever and Adulting), Michelle’s star is on the rise. You’d be forgiven for thinking the road to success—or adulthood or financial stability or self-acceptance or marriage or motherhood—has been easy, but you’d be wrong. Now, in Survival of the Thickest, Michelle reflects on growing up Caribbean, Catholic, and thick in New Jersey, going to college in Miami (where everyone smells like pineapple), her many friendship and dating disasters, working as a newsroom editor during 9/11, getting started in stand-up opening for male strippers, marrying into her husband’s Dutch family, IVF and surrogacy, motherhood, chosen family, and what it feels like to have a full heart, tight jeans, and stardom finally in her grasp.Trade Review"Michelle Buteau is one of the funniest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet in my entire life. Not since the ferocity I had at 12 years old elbowing fellow readers of Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban out of the way for my copy have I been as excited for a new title as I am for Michelle’s book, Survival of The Thickest. But unlike J.K. Rowling, Michelle won’t let us down because nobody's comedy or inclusion shines brighter than Michelle’s!" —Jonathan Van Ness, hair dresser and star of the Netflix series Queer Eye "If you think actress Buteau (“Russian Doll,” “Tales of the City”) is funny on-screen, wait until you see her on the page.” —The Washington Post“Michelle Buteau is one of the funniest comedians out there right now… A brilliant, uproarious memoir. This is the kind of read that shows us a woman who owns all that she is—her heartbreak, her humor, her struggle, her sexuality—and who makes other women want to do the same… Get ready to laugh out loud and feel like you've made a new friend. Pro tip: get the audio book to listen to Buteau narrate her life with her perfect and awe-inspiring delivery.” —Shondaland“Hilarious—like, snap-a-photo-of-a-page-and-send-it-to-friends funny. But this bracingly honest essay collection, in which Buteau insightfully reflects on everything from her body image to her interracial marriage to her difficult road to motherhood, is ultimately about the brave act of learning to love yourself.” —Real Simple"This hilarious, raunchy, tell-it-like-it-is collection of reminiscences and identity-searching tales by actress and stand-up star Michelle Buteau will entertain you and, perhaps, make you blush.” —GoodMorningAmerica.com, “13 new books to get cozy with over the holidays”"Known for her effortless delivery of laugh-out-loud stories, Michelle Buteau brings that same cheekiness and hilarity to her book. Warning, though, reading this may cause you to watch all of her comedy specials and every single movie and TV show she's ever been in in an alarmingly short period of time." —Cosmopolitan"If you're a fan of Michelle Buteau's comedy, you know what you're getting: laugh out loud funny stories, moments of raw honesty and vulnerability that make you feel less alone, and the sense that you have a new best friend in your life. If you're new to 'Buteaupia' (as she likes to call it) aka the world of Michelle, you're in for a treat and will, no doubt, be a new fan by the time you finish reading Survival of the Thickest." —Phoebe Robinson, Founder of Tiny Reparations Books and author of You Can't Touch My Hair and Everything's Trash, But It's Okay"In her debut essay collection, Michelle tackles everything from body image to babies and Blackness with the kind of hilarity and truth only she can deliver. If you're not lucky enough to have a sister friend like Michelle Buteau, Survival of the Thickest is the next best thing." —Franchesca Ramsey, host of MTV's Decoded and author of Well, That Escalated Quickly“Michelle Buteau delivers a debut essay collection that’ll have you cackling devilishly one minute, then ugly crying the next. Raw and heartbreaking… Buteau deftly moves from painful honesty to screwball comedy. Survival of the Thickest, like Michelle herself, is a real one.” —Brandy Barber, Bust Magazine“Buteau is known for being equally forthright and fabulous. In this collection of essays, she reveals the depths and origins of both… Her sharpness is suffused with a warmth that makes even her most esoteric stories—early stand-up misadventures and culture clashes with her Dutch in-laws—relatable and readable… A heartfelt, snarkily sweet memoir in essays.” —Booklist“Zesty and hilarious… Buteau’s spot-on essays combine laughter with wise life lessons.” —Publishers Weekly“Unabashed, often bawdy… Buteau's knack for steering absurd situations toward warm insight shines… Discussions of being busty, curvy, and light-skinned abound with self-empowerment… At turns joyful and sweet about her marriage's early days and heartbreaking about miscarriages, Buteau is reassuring in her candor.” —Kirkus“Buteau showcases her humor, perseverance, and honesty… [and she] tells each tale with style and wit… Inviting and unbelievably hilarious… Fans of Ali Wong or Mindy Kaling will appreciate this heartbreaking and hopeful volume.” —Library Journal"Make room on your ‘funny lady memoir’ bookshelf, because comedian Michelle Buteau has landed... A hilarious and heartfelt memoir.” —HelloGiggles“One of the year's most relatable books.” —Bustle “Buteau has a charisma that makes you remember who she is… Genuinely funny.” —Black Girl Nerds“The hilarious comedian and actor Michelle Buteau will have you rolling and reflecting with her candid and empowering lessons on work, marriage, motherhood, body image, and Blackness. Truthful, willful and hopeful, this is a heartwarming debut collection.” —Ms. Magazine“Survival of the Thickest reads like a long conversation with a very smart and funny friend… A delight, from start to finish, and a nice introduction to a woman who has been in the game for a long time and is more than ready for her time in the sun.” —Megan Reynolds, Jezebel“Survival of the Thickest offers more of the humor and frankness that has made Buteau a fan favorite: If you enjoyed any of Mindy Kaling’s essay collections, then I highly suggest reading this one. It is as laugh-out-loud funny as the author herself.” —Bitch Media“In her collection of stories, Michelle Buteau shares her honest and hilarious takes on everything from body image to getting started in standup comedy to being in an interracial marriage.” —E! Online’s roundup for Women’s History Month, “Books by Boss Ladies We Love”

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Book SynopsisWelcome to Yellowberry Hill!...a place where an owl in a onesie, a snake in a cape and a mole with a conspicuous wig are best friends; where a cat has a pet dog, a frog is permanently in a mug and the local moose is never without a slice of pie; where an undersized panda regularly tests the patience of a duck in a woolly hat, while a little blue fish tries to make sense of it all and a distant yak looks on. Once you've accepted that all this is normal, you'll be right at home...

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Book SynopsisSettled in a dilapidated house in the Loire they are plagued by calamities (mainly of Tommy's making), excitable neighbours, a destructive puppy and an unexpected pregnancy. When it looks like the money has run out. Tommy has an epiphany. Beer will save him, of course it will, it always has. After all there is a craft beer revolutions sweeping the world. Sadly it turns out that 20 years of drinking beer doesn't qualify you to brew it. Featuring colourful characters, a stunning location, and an inspiring collection of beer recipes, this is an irresistible feastTrade Review'Delicious'. Daily Telegraph. ‘I love this book. A fantastic read for anyone who likes beer, France, and laughing.’Ellie Gibson, Scummy Mummies. ‘Zut alors! We don't publish this book but we wishwe did! Funniest writing we've seen this year.’Apostrophe Books. ‘Barnes adds something new to the Englishman in France genre not just by being extremely funny but by writing from the heart.’ 2018 Best Booze Books, Master of Malt

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Book SynopsisBullshit Bingo is the 1-player party game that transforms the BS of everyday life into a party for 1. By encouraging people to gamify real life, the game offers a refreshing reminder not to take life too seriously. It is a bit like therapy, but way less expensive.With 21 tearable and single-use cards, Bullshit Bingo is the perfect companion to life's most generic occasions: weddings, the gym, first dates, vacation, parenting, break-ups, death, turning 30, Hollywood movies - you name it.

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Book SynopsisPeople do the weirdest things, do we not? Have you ever wondered why? Have you ever tried to figure out why you do the things you do, or why your friends are who they are? Have you ever wondered if cats can be allergic to people or why men are more likely to dream of other men than women? Have you ever thought about strange human behaviours, like why is it easier for people to fall in love on holiday? Then People Facts is definitely for you.The book deals with 100+ bizarre, revealing and funny facts about humans, which can be weirdly informative and wildly witty! Whether they are biological, psychological, cultural or natural; in this beautifully illustrated volume, the craziest aspects of human evolution are gathered. So, if you want to know why your feet are the most honest body part, why most people overestimate themselves and their abilities, or how a brain scan can reveal what kind of friends you have, you should definitely open this book. Enjoy!

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Book SynopsisSiamese Anglophile is about the lifetime work of a Siamese born in London and nicknamed 'Teddy' by his English nanny. It is a heart-warming story of his eclectic and amusing experiences starting in 50s Britain and ending in 90s America. The Anglo-Saxon world is seen through the lens of an English speaking polyglot, with idiosyncratic insights and historical observations through a series of jobs from fruit-picking in Essex to performing as an extra in James Bond films at Pinewood studios to learning the ropes of the advertising industry in boomtown Manhattan. Here is a nostalgic memoir that starts more than half a century ago and conjures up the optimistic outlook of life at that time. Teddy's journey from London mailman to adman in Manhattan is amusingly told, with a wealth of fascinating anecdotes and historical references along the way, on working in post-war and sixties Britain, on the advertising business in the days before the Internet, and finally on teaching and travelling in America in the nineties. Teddy combines nostalgia and contemporary insights into the world of yesteryear peppered with wryly humorous narrativesTrade Review"Teddy's sharp memory and eye for detail bring to life the social mores, language, ephemera, and style of times gone by. Sprinkled with historical asides and humorous anecdotes, Siamese Anglophile is a nostalgic portal to the past and an engaging chronicle of a life lived between East and West." - Emma Larkin, author of Finding George Orwell in Burma; "Over decades of improbable jobs and vivid experiences in Europe, Asia and America, Teddy Spha Palasthira recounts the quirks of western society and its shifting values with wit, compassion and eloquence. Part memoir, part reflection on the nature of work and an Anglo-Thai view, he takes us inside film sets, ad agency boardrooms, an American university and even a British Post Office to offer fascinating and sometimes hilarious insights into the changing world of work and human nature." - Gwen Robinson, Former Bangkok correspondent Financial Times and contributor, Monocle magazine

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Book SynopsisSo two Jews were on a train. "All Eastern European Jewish jokes start this way, or almost" says Adam Biro, who has assembled this rich volume of such stories, tales in which we hear the voices of generations using humour to teach about the delicacy, anguish, and unpredictability of life itself.Trade Review"In applying an Old World sensibility to the present, the author underscores the nature of the divide between them, and the increasingly despairing punchline of each joke seems to become: Why did You abandon us?" - The New Yorker "A sort of whimsical Jewish Arabian Nights that takes you to Baghdad and New York, Paris and Brussels. If its spirit could be summed up in one sentence, it might be the one from the book describing a 100-year-old patriarch, who 'loved life in spite of his infinite despair about human beings and their condition." - Elaine Kalman Naves, Montreal Gazette "Somewhere between Isaac Bashevis Singer and Morey Amsterdam." - Kirkus Reviews "You have to read Adam Biro... for the little details between the lines, which are awe inspiring!" - La liberte, on the French edition "There are tales of schnorrers, matchmakers, gossips, immigrants, a golf-playing rabbi.... Between the lines are tales of the fragility of love, friendship and of life itself, and the possibilities of redemption. The strength of these stories is Biro's skill as a story-teller and his apparent love of the material. He has a light touch and the tales are short, but packed full of imagery and emotion." - Sandee Brawarsky, Jewish Week

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Book SynopsisCreation versus evolution. Nature versus nurture. Free will versus determinism. Every November at the University of Chicago, the best minds in the world consider the question that ranks with these as one of the most enduring of human history: latke or hamantash? This great latke-hamantash debate, occurring every year for the past six decades, brings Nobel laureates, university presidents, and notable scholars together to debate whether the potato pancake or the triangular Purim pastry is in fact the worthier food. What began as an informal gathering is now an institution that has been replicated on campuses nationwide. Highly absurd yet deeply serious, the annual debate is anopportunity for both ethnic celebration and academic farce. In poetry, essays, jokes, and revisionist histories, members of elite American academies attack the latke-versus-hamantash question with intellectual panache and an unerring sense of humor, if not chutzpah. The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate is the first collection of the best of these performances, from Martha Nussbaum's paean to both foodsin the style of Hecuba's Lamentto Nobel laureate Leon Lederman's proclamation on the union of the celebrated dyad. The latke and the hamantash are here revealed as playing a critical role in everything from Chinese history to the Renaissance, the works of Jane Austen to constitutional law. Philosopher and humorist Ted Cohen supplies a wry foreword,while anthropologist Ruth Fredman Cernea provideshistorical and socialcontext as well as an overview of the Jewish holidays, latke and hamantash recipes, and a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew terms, making the book accessible even to the uninitiated. The University of Chicago may have split the atom in 1942, but it's still working on the equally significant issue of the latke versus the hamantash. As if we didn't have enough on our plates, here's something new to argue about. . . . To have to pick between sweet and savory, round and triangular, latke and hamantash. How to choose? . . . Thank goodness one of our great universitiesChicago, no lessis on the case. For more than 60 years, it has staged an annual latke-hamantash debate. . . . So, is this book funny? Of course it's funny, even laugh-out-loud funny. It's Mickey Katz in academic drag, Borscht Belt with a PhD.David Kaufmann, Forward

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Book SynopsisTed Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticiansbut not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant's Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen's best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen's classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Priz

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Book SynopsisFrom the decadent turn of the century to the Third Reich, the acerbic satirist Karl Kraus was one of the most famous-and feared-intellectuals in Europe. This title provides an introductory essay on Kraus' life and milieu and annotations that clarify many of Kraus' literary and sociohistorical allusions.Trade Review"McVity's volume is ... important both as translation and as evidence that Kraus can be translated... Others ... have tried their hand at translating the aphorisms, but McVity is the most ambitious... McVity masterfully preserves the flavor, spirit, meaning, and intent of the original." -- Choice "McVity takes the refreshing view that translation is an opportunity rather than an impossibility, and he has some wonderfully inventive equivalents for Kraus's wordplay." -- Michael Wood, London Review of Books "These 9l8 aphorisms, courageously translated by John McVity, reveal Kraus in all his truculent, rebarbative, crap-cutting glory. Like postcards lost in the dead-letter office for the better part of a century, they call up a world no longer our own and yet manage to speak with surprising frequency to many of our most abiding concerns." - Martin Jay, author of Cultural Semantics: Keywords of Our Time "McVity has done the seemingly impossible: translate the complex and quirky wisdoms of one of the greatest twentieth-century masters of the German language into an English that is not only coherent but lets the brilliance of the original shine through." - Fred Viebahn, University of Virginia "The volume includes, for the first time in English, the entire text of Kraus's first book of aphorisms... For all of Kraus's political intricacies, 'the most painful part' of translating his work into modern English ... is capturing his ingenious and assiduous wordplay." -- Aaron Retica, Lingua Franca.

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Book SynopsisCollector of sexual folklore. Cataloger of erotica. Tireless social critic. Gershon Legman's singular, disreputable resume made him a counter-cultural touchstone during his forty-year exile in France. Despite his obscurity today, Legman's prescient work and passion for the prurient laid the groundwork for our contemporary study of the forbidden. Susan G. Davis follows the life and times of the figure driven to share what he found in civilization's secret libraries. Self-taught and fiercely unaffiliated, Legman collected the risqué on street corners and in theaters and dug it out of little-known archives. If the sexual humor he uncovered often used laughter to disguise hostility and fear, he still believed it indispensable to the human experience. Davis reveals Legman in all his prickly, provocative complexity as an outrageous nonconformist thundering at a wrong-headed world while reveling in conflict, violating laws and boundaries with equal abandon, and pursuing love and improbable adTrade Review"A more difficult subject is hard to imagine—a self-taught, little-known, irascible scholar who with little support and great opposition delved into some of the darkest corners of culture. Yet this remarkable and utterly engaging biography is the epic story of an unlikely hero as well as a lesson in just how much one person can accomplish in one lifetime. It also evokes an era, one uncomfortably like our own, in which scholars, theologians, politicians, and police wrestle with the unresolved issues of love and death."--John Szwed, author of Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth "A vigorous. . . intellectual biography of [Legman's] peculiar, relentless career." --Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Chapter One: The Stranger Chapter Two: Sex Researcher Chapter Three: Kinsey's Bibliographer Chapter Four: Love & Death Chapter 5: Neurotica Chapter Six: Advanced Studies Chapter Seven: "The Ballad" and The Horn Book Chapter Eight: The Key to the Fields Chapter Nine: The Hell Drawer Chapter Ten: Under Mt. Cheiron List of Works Consulted Unpublished Works Interviews Archives of Papers and Letters

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Book SynopsisThis reprint makes one of America's greatest humorists--and one of America's greatest humorous characters--available again to the public.Trade Review"It is a disgrace to American scholarship that [Dunne] is not studied, and thus republished and enjoyed on a par with Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce." -- Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"To understand the confusing reality of Russia today, it helps to recall the 'bad-old-days' of the late, unlamented Soviet Union. This warm, touching and occasionally hilarious book can assist those recollections." -Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio show host "In this memoir, a pediatrician describes his work in a Moldovan village; Vladimir A. Tsesis's stories are darkly funny and reveal much about the poverty, drunkenness, political corruption, anti-Semitism, and fundamental absurdity of rural life in the Soviet 1960s." -Deborah A. Field, author of Private Life and Communist Morality in Khrushchev's RussiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface: September 1964BeginningsPotemkin Profession Hard Lives and Few ChoicesJust One More DrinkSecretsThe Party's PartyThe Longest Shortest Parade in the Soviet UnionHow Much Do You Really Want That Vacation, Vladimir?WindmillsMilkThe WanderersDeath in a FamilyThe Great ChaseKGB Daughters, and Why Not to Treat ThemThe West Meets the BestThe Incredibly Shrinking CropA Frosty Farewell One Joke Too ManyEndings

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"To understand the confusing reality of Russia today, it helps to recall the 'bad-old-days' of the late, unlamented Soviet Union. This warm, touching and occasionally hilarious book can assist those recollections." -Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio show host "In this memoir, a pediatrician describes his work in a Moldovan village; Vladimir A. Tsesis's stories are darkly funny and reveal much about the poverty, drunkenness, political corruption, anti-Semitism, and fundamental absurdity of rural life in the Soviet 1960s." -Deborah A. Field, author of Private Life and Communist Morality in Khrushchev's RussiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface: September 1964BeginningsPotemkin Profession Hard Lives and Few ChoicesJust One More DrinkSecretsThe Party's PartyThe Longest Shortest Parade in the Soviet UnionHow Much Do You Really Want That Vacation, Vladimir?WindmillsMilkThe WanderersDeath in a FamilyThe Great ChaseKGB Daughters, and Why Not to Treat ThemThe West Meets the BestThe Incredibly Shrinking CropA Frosty Farewell One Joke Too ManyEndings

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPreface (Edward J. Saltzman)IntroductionTales from the Examining Room The Singing Doctor Those Awful Nasty Shots The Little Wise Ones Little Patients with Little Patience The Joys of School Brothers and Sisters Through the Generations The Good Doctor The Poor Parents Taking Good Care Growing UpPracticing PediatricsFarewell (Elizabeth M. Tanis)Looking Back—and Forward

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAs a reference text, both Oring's analysis and Lang's translation will prove to be invaluable to scholars looking for the etiology of a certain comic trope, or those trying to trace the history of certain comedic ideas. * Reading Religion *Oring . . . provides readers with an opportunity to test his ideas about Jewish jokes on a rich set of empirical material. Going back to one of the first known sources of Jewish jokes, he helps us to trace their genesis. * European Journal of Humour Research *The First Book of Jewish Jokes is an interesting hybrid: a joke book that offers a glimpse of what was considered funny in the past and two excellent essays by Oring that place the jokes into historical context. Readers interested in Jewish folklore and those curious about the nature of Jewish humor in the 19th century will find this work of interest. * The Reporter Group *The title The First Book of Jewish Jokes may seem to indicate that this book is a joke collection. It is, but it is also a complex, demanding work, rich in context and interpretation, engaging and compelling. -- Steve Siporin * Folklore *All told, this is an excellent piece of scholarship. . . it can serve as a capstone to Elliott Oring's lifetime project on understanding the joke and the Jewish joke in particular. * Western Folklore *The present volume contains a complete critical edition of both works, translated from the German by Michaela Lang and annotated with analogs from other Jewish joke collections. Elliott Oring has added a concordance of texts that Büschenthal took from Ascher and two lengthy introductory chapters discussing the collection and its author and describing the social and political life of European Jews in Büschenthal's day. . . . Perhaps the most significant question that Oring addresses in this work is this: "Why did Jews adopt the joke genre as a symbol of their nationhood" (7)? Büschenthal's project was meant, as his subtitle put it, as "a contribution to the characterization of the Jewish nation," intended to both showcase Jewish distinctiveness and humanize their image. -- Moira Marsh * Journal of Folklore Research *Table of ContentsForewordAcknowledgmentsPart I: Introduction1. On Jewish Jokes and the Collection of Lippmann Moses Büschenthal2. The Jews in the Century of BüschenthalPart II: The Texts3. Collection of Witty Notions from Jews as a Contribution to the Characterization of the Jewish Nation / L. M. Büschenthal4. Selections from The Friend of the Jews or Selected Anecdotes, Pranks, and Notions of the Children of Israel / Judas AscherAppendix I: Büschenthal Texts Taken from Judas Ascher, Der JudenfreundAppendix II: Sources of Joke AnalogsList of ReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAs a reference text, both Oring's analysis and Lang's translation will prove to be invaluable to scholars looking for the etiology of a certain comic trope, or those trying to trace the history of certain comedic ideas. * Reading Religion *Oring . . . provides readers with an opportunity to test his ideas about Jewish jokes on a rich set of empirical material. Going back to one of the first known sources of Jewish jokes, he helps us to trace their genesis. * European Journal of Humour Research *The First Book of Jewish Jokes is an interesting hybrid: a joke book that offers a glimpse of what was considered funny in the past and two excellent essays by Oring that place the jokes into historical context. Readers interested in Jewish folklore and those curious about the nature of Jewish humor in the 19th century will find this work of interest. * The Reporter Group *The title The First Book of Jewish Jokes may seem to indicate that this book is a joke collection. It is, but it is also a complex, demanding work, rich in context and interpretation, engaging and compelling. -- Steve Siporin * Folklore *All told, this is an excellent piece of scholarship. . . it can serve as a capstone to Elliott Oring's lifetime project on understanding the joke and the Jewish joke in particular. * Western Folklore *The present volume contains a complete critical edition of both works, translated from the German by Michaela Lang and annotated with analogs from other Jewish joke collections. Elliott Oring has added a concordance of texts that Büschenthal took from Ascher and two lengthy introductory chapters discussing the collection and its author and describing the social and political life of European Jews in Büschenthal's day. . . . Perhaps the most significant question that Oring addresses in this work is this: "Why did Jews adopt the joke genre as a symbol of their nationhood" (7)? Büschenthal's project was meant, as his subtitle put it, as "a contribution to the characterization of the Jewish nation," intended to both showcase Jewish distinctiveness and humanize their image. -- Moira Marsh * Journal of Folklore Research *Table of ContentsForewordAcknowledgmentsPart I: Introduction1. On Jewish Jokes and the Collection of Lippmann Moses Büschenthal2. The Jews in the Century of BüschenthalPart II: The Texts3. Collection of Witty Notions from Jews as a Contribution to the Characterization of the Jewish Nation / L. M. Büschenthal4. Selections from The Friend of the Jews or Selected Anecdotes, Pranks, and Notions of the Children of Israel / Judas AscherAppendix I: Büschenthal Texts Taken from Judas Ascher, Der JudenfreundAppendix II: Sources of Joke AnalogsList of ReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAntisemitism in Film Comedy in Nazi Germany offers an intriguing point of departure for future inquiries into the functions of coded antisemitism in mainstream Western culture today. -- Ofer Ashkenazi- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem * Antisemitism Studies *

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