Arthur Power Dudden – författare

The paramount question answered in this absorbing collection of essays is: What's so funny about American humor, and why? What are American humor's characteristics? How have they evolved and displayed themselves? Which characteristics are distinctively, or even uniquely, American? Originally appearing as an issue of the American Quarterly, these essays take a close look at American humor from revolutionary times to the present day, and particularly focuson the neglected trends of the past fifty years. Looking at American comic figures as diverse--and even surprising--as Mark Twain and Richard Nixon, at various vehicles for American humor such as comic strips,radio and television, movies, and standup comedians, and at different genres of humor including political, ethnic, and feminist humor, this book brings a lively new perspective to the study of American culture.

Although American humour has asserted itself from the first century of the nation's independence, often finding new forms through the genius of many of the practitioners, it has received little serious attention from critics or historians. Here, nine eminent essayists examine American humour from revolutionary times to the present day, focusing in particular on the neglected trends of the past fifty years.

The paramount question answered in this absorbing collection of essays is: What''s so funny about American humor, and why? What are American humor''s characteristics? How have they evolved and displayed themselves? Which characteristics are distinctively, or even uniquely, American? Originally appearing as an issue of the American Quarterly, these essays take a close look at American humor from revolutionary times to the present day, and particularly focus on the neglected trends of the past fifty years. Looking at American comic figures as diverse--and even surprising--as Mark Twain and Richard Nixon, at various vehicles for American humor such as comic strips, radio and television, movies, and standup comedians, and at different genres of humor including political, ethnic, and feminist humor, this book brings a lively new perspective to the study of American culture.

American Empire in the Pacific explores the empire that emerged from the Oregon Treaty of 1846 with Great Britain and the outcome of the Mexican War in 1848. Together, they signalled the mastery of the United States over the continent of North America; the Pacific Ocean and the ancient civilizations of Asia at last lay within reach. England''s East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries had introduced Asian wares including tea to the American colonists, but wars against France and then the struggle for American independence held back expansion by Yankee entrepreneurs until 1783. Thereafter, from the Atlantic seaboard, American ships began regularly to reach China. Merchants, sailors and missionaries, motivated toward trade and redemption like the Europeans they met along the way, encountered the exotic peoples and cultures of the Pacific. Would-be empire builders projected a manifest destiny without limits. Russian Alaska, the native kingdom of Hawai''i, Japan, Korea, Samoa, and Spain''s Philippine Islands, as well as a transcontinental railroad and an isthmian canal, acquired strategic significance in American minds, in time to outweigh both commerce and conversion.

American Empire in the Pacific explores the empire that emerged from the Oregon Treaty of 1846 with Great Britain and the outcome of the Mexican War in 1848. Together, they signalled the mastery of the United States over the continent of North America; the Pacific Ocean and the ancient civilizations of Asia at last lay within reach. England''s East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries had introduced Asian wares including tea to the American colonists, but wars against France and then the struggle for American independence held back expansion by Yankee entrepreneurs until 1783. Thereafter, from the Atlantic seaboard, American ships began regularly to reach China. Merchants, sailors and missionaries, motivated toward trade and redemption like the Europeans they met along the way, encountered the exotic peoples and cultures of the Pacific. Would-be empire builders projected a manifest destiny without limits. Russian Alaska, the native kingdom of Hawai''i, Japan, Korea, Samoa, and Spain''s Philippine Islands, as well as a transcontinental railroad and an isthmian canal, acquired strategic significance in American minds, in time to outweigh both commerce and conversion.