Historical Humor

Penniless, homeless, and virtually lifeless, the vagrant “Doughface” Jack is about to discover that where medical marvels meet the mysteries of the human mind, amazing things happen. The Tramp acquires a capability beyond his imagination and without equal on Earth. Riding the rails, Jack runs afoul of a local sheriff and ends up with a crushed skull. He’s as good as dead until a savvy country doctor performs a bit of medical magic.

Jane Austen skewers the novelistic extremes of her day made popular in many 18th-century Gothic potboilers. Dilapidated castles, locked rooms, inexplicable chests, enigmatic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly sardonic twist.

They're a Weird Mob chronicles the hilarious attempts of an English-speaking Italian migrant coming to grips with the Australian way of life. It is also an insight into the importance of idiomatic language to the Australian people.

When De Cocksdorp's head dyker Joosie Twaat wakes to find her finger has been sloppily inserted in her own now-leaking dyke, François and his crew immediately come to help De Cocksdorp. But small leaks become large leaks, and large leaks become gushes. And before long, Joosie's gaping dyke threatens to flood the whole town.

A committee of military personnel with checkered histories has been mysteriously assembled by the British Secret Intelligence Service, ostensibly to flush out a mole suspected of sharing secrets with the Nazis. The action switches between this intriguing plot and the real-life story of the playwright who is writing this stage play, detailing his battles with the show's producer and investor as they race to meet a deadline for rehearsals and opening night.

Welcome to ancient Rome, where the steps of the Forum are peopled by nubile slave girls and a range of outrageous characters including Lurcio’s owner, Ludicrus Sextus the senator, his wife, Ammonia, his son, Nausius, and his daughter, Erotica. Lurcio attempts to deliver his prologue and begin proceedings before he’s quickly caught up in the myriad of sexual liaisons in all quarters of his master’s house.

Diary of Liz Truss: Prime Minister Extraordinaire is a satirical and humorous dive into the whirlwind 44-day tenure of one of Britain's most short-lived and controversial Prime Ministers. Written as a mock diary, it offers a tongue-in-cheek perspective on Liz Truss's "bold" decisions, chaotic policies, and her unique interpretation of leadership.

Christopher Columbus is one of the most famous explorers of all time, but he was neither the first nor last adventurer to ever stumble upon a great discovery. From the Silk Road of Asia to the icy shores of Antarctica, our knowledge of the world today is in large part due to several intrepid pioneers, risking life and limb for the sake of exploration. After all, setting off into the dark unknown requires an enormous amount of bravery. But every explorer quickly learns that courage and curiosity aren't enough to save you if you can't read a map or trespass on somebody else's land!

In this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a group of World War II-era Hasids, mistakenly put on a circus train instead of a transport to a death camp, are assumed to be acrobats. They perform a clumsy act, which their Nazi audience applauds as a parody of "Jewish ballet".

Casada a los 16 años con un marqués ya mayor quedó viuda a los 16 años y medio. La primera experiencia con el sexo opuesto que tuvo la marquesa fue totalmente negativa y eso le hizo estar muy condicionada con respecto a los hombres. El problema de la sociedad de la época era que una mujer no podía estar sin un marido que la apoyara o un amante al menos, sin sufrir la humillación sarcasmo y ridículo del entorno social.

This fun and entertaining audiobook of jokes and riddles is designed for kids aged 6+.

Young Kit Kellan has led a rough-and-tumble life - knocking around the Vega System in his youth as a tiger hunter, a brawler, and a bouncer in a bar. But his real fight is just beginning. Summarily expelled from the prestigious Terra University, he is taken into custody by an agent of the System Bureau of Investigation (SBI). Kit's crime: thinking too much and thinking too well. He’s not in custody for long, however. Snatched from captivity by the People’s Revolutionary Society, Kit sets out an epic adventure that will take him to the farthest reaches of the universe.

Una descripcion morbosa de la decadencia. La Montana Magica fue la obra que logro para Thomas Mann, el insigne escritor aleman, el Premio Nobel. En esa historia, situada en un sanatorio de tuberculosos en los altos de una montana, el autor creo un increíble microcosmos, reflejo de lo que el consideraba la decadencia de su patria y de toda la civilizacion europea.

Nicknamed after the gas mask he and his fellow soldiers will wear as they fight in the Persian Gulf War, Aardvark is a tactical jet crewman headed for combat in this dark comedy. He recounts the days before he is called to fight and the carrier's progress toward its destination in blistering prose. The war is really happening on TV, and everyone on the ship is tuned to CNN. Aardvark wanders the ship with video camera in hand, filming the rule-bound officers, musclehead bunkmates, and porn entrepreneurs in an attempt to tune out reality. But as the ship nears its destination, he is forced to face his growing fears and sense of alienation.

It's summer and renowned actress, Dame Pamela Harcourt, has organized a treat: the first Purley Hall Jane Austen holiday - to the home of Mr. Darcy no less. With Katherine and Warwick, Robyn, Doris Norris and the rest of the gang, it's going to be a trip to remember.

This novelette is an homage to the amazing P. G. Wodehouse and his legendary characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. While living in 1920's New York City, Bertie is saddled with looking after the son of one of his Aunt Agatha's best mates, the Lady Mallowan. Bertie thinks that the young Lord Wiltshire is a useless, annoying nitwit, but he has no idea that left on his own a completely different side of the young Dermot will start to emerge, putting Bertie in a serious pickle.

Five historical short stories with a pinch of parody and conspiracy theory twists....

While almost entirely fictional, this story about the famous entertainer Barnum, his beautiful daughter, and one very clever clown, set against the backdrop of an old-fashioned circus, is witty, sweet, and romantic.

It is 1886 and the venerable publishing firm of Garnett and Son are getting by - just - when a manuscript comes in from a Mr. Conan Doyle. The manuscript divides the firm; Garnett Sr. loathes it and its hero, Sherlock Holmes, but Garnett Jr. loves it. The father and son agree to a bet: if they can solve a local murder, using Holmes' methods, they will publish. If not, Sherlock Holmes will be confined to the dustbin of history.

This is a short tale about life in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1800s. It entails the hardships of lonely mountain men and a beautiful red-headed woman with the body of a duck.