American Humor: The tall tale and the deadpan

The homegrown comic tradition — Twain’s drawl, Lardner’s ballplayers, and the sketch writers who taught a country to laugh at itself.

In this collection

• Colonial Experience
• The Owl and the Bell
• Opening Ode
• The Point of View
• Man not Overboard
• The Birthday Party
• Worth his While
• Pilkington'S
• The Greater Coney
• Tom Sawyer, Detective
• The Cat and the Mice
• The Captain of Industry
• English as she is Spoke
• The Tin-Pot Mill
• A Thing that Glistened
• Dr. Nikidik's Famous Wishing Pills
• To W. Hohenzollern, on Discontinuing
• The Ineffective Rooter
• Mr. Meek Plays Polo
• Shavings
• The Mad Official
• From Place to Place
• Life on the Mississippi, Part 11
• The Place where the Old Cleek Broke (other Verses)
• All collections