Satire History

Insulting the president is an American tradition. From Washington to Trump, presidents have been called "lazy," "feeble," "pusillanimous," and more. Our leaders have been derided as "ignoramuses," "idiots," "morons," and "fatheads," and have been compared to all manner of animals - worms and whales and hyenas, sad jellyfish, strutting crows, lap dogs, reptiles, and monkeys. Political insults tell us what we value in our leaders by showing how we devalue them. In Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels, linguist Edwin Battistella collects over 500 insults aimed at American presidents.

In France, the simple act of eating bread is an exercise in creative problem solving, and attempting to spell requires a degree of masochism. But that's just how the French like it - and in WTF?!, Olivier Magny reveals the France only the French know. From the latest trends in baby names to the religiously observed division of church and state, prepare yourself for an insider's look at French culture that is surprising, insightful, and chock full of bons mots.

Prepare for the most uproariously grim tour of Tudor England ever recorded! Gilbert Abbott A'Beckett's classic satire skewers the so-called "golden age" of English monarchy, revealing the Tudors as they truly were: a parade of tyrants, schemers, and royal disasters who treated their subjects like pawns in a deadly game of power.

El personatge de Paulina Buxareu és el de l’entranyable tieta soltera que trobem a tantes famílies, i que per no tenir una vida pròpia es conforma amb viure intensament la dels demés... Una de les obsessions de Paulina Buxareu és, paradoxalment, donar consells amorosos i intentar emparellar a qui se li posi per davant, fet que donarà peu a algunes complicacions, que haguessin estat del tot innecessàries si Paulina no hi hagués intervingut.

Gustavo Arellano has compiled the best questions about Mexican Americans from readers of his ¡Ask a Mexican!column in California's OC Weekly and uses them to explore the clichés of lowriders, busboys, and housekeepers; drunks and scoundrels; heroes and celebrities; and most important, millions upon millions of law-abiding, patriotic American citizens and their illegal-immigrant cousins who represent some $600 billion in economic power.

We've all heard that you learn more from failure than you do from success. Which means that all those hours spent watching crappy movies wasn't a waste of your precious and ever-dwindling life span; it was an education! And Better Living Through Bad Movies can show you how to extract the profound, life-affirming lessons from films like Battlefield Earth, Coyote Ugly, and Indecent Proposal.

Today's political pundits express shock and disappointment when candidates resort to negative campaigning. But history reveals that smear campaigns are as American as apple pie. Anything for a Vote is a look at 200-plus years of dirty tricks and bad behavior in presidential elections, from George Washington to Barack Obama and John McCain. Let the name-calling begin!

In this satirical alternative history, Professor Jeronimo Herodotease and his team of documentary filmmakers and reenactors revivify the dark days of the Grim Depression and Amerika's descent into dictatorship. In the chaos and strife that followed the assassination of President-elect Frankie van Rosenvelt, General Jackson and a cadre of Forcist-minded cockroaches swarmed the stage, gnawed away at democratic norms, and declared martial law under the guise of restoring "Law and Order."

One: A time jumper is desperate to remain in this 'overlap' journey but his time is running out. Breaking his self-imposed travel rules, Marcus started a family. Now he will leave not only his deceased wife Ellie, again, but will also suffer the weight of a heart broken by being pulled from his children - unless he can find a way to extend his stay in the overlap.

What if you could make a change to history that would eliminate the Spanish Inquisition, American slavery, World War II, global warming, and an egomaniacal US president who thought he was smart enough to drop nuclear bombs here and there without negative consequences? What if that change also made the United States and five billion people poof from existence? Would you do it?

In order to support her family and maintain their ancient castle in Lesser Hoo, 17-year-old Althea bears the burden of finding a wealthy suitor who can remedy their financial problems. But there are few wealthy suitors - or suitors of any kind--in Lesser Hoo. Then, the young and attractive (and very rich) Lord Boring arrives, and Althea sets her plans in motion. There's only one problem; his friend and business manager Mr. Fredericks keeps getting in the way. And, as it turns out, Fredericks has his own set of plans....

He is the perfect presidential candidate. Conservatives love his hard-hitting Republican rsum. Liberals love his peaceful, progressive practicality. The media can’t get enough of his larger-than-life personality. And all the American people love that he’s an honest, hard-working man who tells it like it is. There’s just one problem. He is William Howard Taft...and he was already president a hundred years ago.

The vast right wing conspiracy has found its General Patton, and his name is David Kahane. Kahane's pseudonymous, satiric column for National Review Online, lampooning the Left via his Hollywood-radical persona - Stephen Colbert's liberal doppelganger - is must-listening for political aficionados of all stripes. Now, from the inside, Kahane proudly exposes the secret and not-so-secret winning strategies (and vulnerabilities) of the Left.

The History of England from Henry IV to Charles I, by a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant historian. N.B. There will be very few dates in this History! Jane Austen wrote The History of England in 1791, at the age of just 15, as a satirical parody of 18th-century historical textbooks. It pokes fun at the apparent impartiality of contemporary historians and contains more opinions about the monarchs’ relative characters than any facts or dates. The History of England was not published until 1922, more than a century after Austen’s death.

In 1729, Swift published A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick known today as A Modest Proposal. In this satire, Swift grotesquely suggests how the poor could solve the problem of their numerous families which they are struggling to feed.

In questo terzo libro della Storia contemporanea, il signor Bergeret si riconcilia finalmente con la vita. Diventato professore titolare, acquisita la dolce compagnia di un cane, continua, fra riflessioni filosofiche e prese di posizioni politiche del tutto scomode riguardanti l’affare Dreyfus, ad accompagnarci nel viaggio di questa Francia in cui governi radicali e conservatori si alternano, e in cui l’antisemitismo viene considerato patriottico.

In questo quarto volume della tetralogia della Storia contemporanea, il signor Bergeret, promosso docente alla Sorbona, si trasferisce a Parigi con la sorella e la figlia Paolina. Con la sorella esplora il proprio passato, incontrato casualmente nella sua vecchia casa d’infanzia, sfitta e rovinata; con la figlia acquista una brillante ascoltatrice dei suoi discorsi filosofici, divenuti, finalmente, ottimisti.

In questo secondo volume della tetralogia della Storia contemporanea, che segue “L’olmo del Mail”, troviamo il signor Bergeret impegnato in discussioni politiche sulla corruzione dei funzionari della Repubblica e su questioni di morale cristiana e non, mentre, nella sua vita domestica (di cui il manichino di vimini è ingrato simbolo), egli acquisisce “l’inestimabile vantaggio di essere tradito”.Cornice musicale: A real slow rag, di Scott Joplin.

Today's parents are navigating a new frontier in child-rearing: raising "digital natives" in a world where "screen time" is ever-present. It's a journey strewn with questions, doubts, and persistent pings. But fear not. Parenting Unplugged turns these challenges into opportunities for humor, wisdom, and a screen savvy family life.

This is the ultimate traffic nightmare - city-wide gridlock! In this savagely satirical view of the near future, vehicular traffic in Los Angeles finally loses its liquidity, transforming into slow-moving slush, then finally hardening into sun-baked mud. With cars and trucks and buses paralyzed across 100 miles of freeway parking lot, the city grinds to a painful stop - or does it? Plus, a bonus story: "Afternoon with a Dead Bus" - a bizarre urban fantasy that only Hugo and Nebula Award winner David Gerrold could write.