Mark Twain, American Humorist


Book Description

Mark Twain, American Humorist examines the ways that Mark Twain’s reputation developed at home and abroad in the period between 1865 and 1882, years in which he went from a regional humorist to national and international fame. In the late 1860s, Mark Twain became the exemplar of a school of humor that was thought to be uniquely American. As he moved into more respectable venues in the 1870s, especially through the promotion of William Dean Howells in the Atlantic Monthly, Mark Twain muddied the hierarchical distinctions between class-appropriate leisure and burgeoning forms of mass entertainment, between uplifting humor and debased laughter, and between the literature of high culture and the passing whim of the merely popular.




Country Music Humorists and Comedians


Book Description

This volume is an encyclopedia of country music performers who have used comedy as a central component of their presentation. Loyal Jones offers a conversational and informative biographical sketch of each performer, often including a sample of the musician's humor, a recording history, and amusing anecdotal tidbits. In an entertaining style, Jones covers performers throughout the twentieth century, from such early stars of vaudeville and radio barn dances as the Skillet Lickers and the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, to regulars on Hee Haw and the Grand Old Opry, continuing to current comedians such as the Austin Lounge Lizards, Ray Stevens, and Jeff Foxworthy.




American Lumberman


Book Description




Encyclopedia of American Humorists


Book Description

First published in 1988, this book contains entries on famous American Humorists. Humor has been present in American literature, from the beginning, and has developed characteristics that reflect the American character, both regional and national. Although American literature was, in the past, treated as inferior to British literature, there has always been a large popular audience for the genre, which this book shows. The figures with entries in this encyclopedia not only amuse in their writing, but also aim to enlighten- setting out to expose the foibles and foolishness of society and the individuals who compose it. It is the manner in which these authors try to accomplish this end that determines whether they appear in the volume. Indeed, the book will demonstrate that the best humor has at its base, a ready understanding of human nature.




Politics and the American Press


Book Description

Politics and the American Press takes a fresh look at the origins of modern journalism's ideals and political practices. The book also provides fresh insights into the economics of journalism and documents the changes in political content of the press by a systematic content analysis of newspaper news and editorials over a span of 55 years. The book concludes by exploring the question of what should be the appropriate political role and professional ethics of journalists in a modern democracy.




Book of the Royal Blue


Book Description




Milestones of American Press History


Book Description

This volume presents in compact form main persons and press organs in the history of the American media system, described by Pulitzer Prize Winners. There are personality profiles of press tycoons like Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce as key figures. There are other press founders like Alexander Hamilton, creator of the `New York Evening Post', or Henry Raymond who established the `New York Times'. There also are sketches about originally bankrupt newspapers sold at auctions and became successful under new publishers, like the `New York World' or the `Washington Post'. Other chapters cover high-circulation publications as exemplified by the `Ladies' Home Journal' or `Time' magazine. In addition, several early stages of news distribution in the United States are told as well as basic press philosophies by starjournalists like Walter Lippmann. Heinz-Dietrich Fischer, EdD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany.