One of the great glories of life in the U.S. is the humor of its people. Baker surveys this territory in this rich treasury and stakes it out in a dozen sections. Roaming through them, the reader will find P.J. O'Rourke, H.L. Mencken, James Thurber, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others.
On August 14, 1925, US journalist, humorist and biographer Russell Baker was born in Loudoun County, Virginia. His father died early on and his hard-working mother reared him and his sisters during the Great Depression. Baker managed to get himself into Johns Hopkins University, where he studied journalism.
Baker’s wit as a humorist has been compared with that of Mark Twain. “The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer,” wrote Baker, “and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn’t require any.” In 1979, Baker received his first Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in his “Observer” column for the New York Times (1962 to 1998). His 1983 autobiography, Growing Up earned him a second Pulitzer. In 1993, Baker began hosting the PBS television series Masterpiece Theatre.
Neil Postman, in the preface to Conscientious Objections, describes Baker as "like some fourth century citizen of Rome who is amused and intrigued by the Empire's collapse but who still cares enough to mock the stupidities that are hastening its end. He is, in my opinion, a precious national resource, and as long as he does not get his own television show, America will remain stronger than Russia." (1991, xii)
A fine collection of short pieces, both recent and in the public domain, from Molly Ivans on Texas to Mark Twain on traveling, from Larry King to being paid by the word to Abe Lincoln on getting married, not a clunker in the bunch. This is a fun and worthwhile collection.
This is a pagan review of a book assembled by Russell Baker who has been a two time Pulitzer Prize winner, a columnist for the New York Times and the host of television's Masterpiece Theater. In addition the sources of humor for this book include among many others Mark Twain, Larry King, O'Henry, Nora Ephron, Ring Lardner, Art Buckwold and Abraham Lincoln. So, with those credentials and support, I offer my opinion. This book is not funny and there will be very few times that you will even attempt a snicker. It is clever, it is intellectual, the material is well written, but if this is an example of American humor it is an eletist view. I am not of the opinion that Uncle Milty, Vaudville, sight gags, the Three Stooges or Henny Youngman are the standard either, but this sample is simply not representative. I understand why we have the phrase "Sense of Humor" because I have learned that this covers a wide number of choices, but if this is the book of "American Humor", then it must take place somewhere else in the Americas.