{"product_id":"american-cornball-christopher-miller-9780062225177","title":"American Cornball: A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmerican Cornball\u003c\/em\u003e is Christopher Miller's irresistibly funny illustrated survey of popular humor--the topics that used to make us laugh, from hiccups and henpecked-husbands to outhouses and old maids--and what it tells us about our country yesterday and today.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy has our sense of humor changed over the years? Why did our grandparents think things like safes falling out of high windows or angry housewives waiting with rolling pins for their drunken husbands to come home were so funny? While we snicker at pop culture references, Americans in time past gravitated towards slapstick and jokes that...don't seem so funny in retrospect.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMiller revisits nearly 200 comic staples that have been passed down through our culture for generations, many originating from the vaudeville age. He explores the (often unseemly) contexts from which they arose, why they were funny in their time, and why they eventually lost their appeal. The result is a kind of taxonomy of humor during America's golden age that provides a deeper, more profound look at the prejudices, preoccupations, and peculiarities of a nation polarized between urban and rural, black and white, highborn and lowbrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs he touches on issues of racism and sexism, cultural stereotypes and violence, Miller reveals how dramatically our moral sensibilities have shifted, most notably in the last few decades. Complete with more than 100 period illustrations, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Cornball\u003c\/em\u003e is a richly entertaining survey of our shifting comic universe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Christopher Miller\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0062225170\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780062225177\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harper\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/23\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 544\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 6.10w x 1.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/23\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/15\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/07\/2014 pg. 65","brand":"Christopher Miller","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":49082500219135,"sku":"9780062225177","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/american-cornball-christopher-miller-9780062225177","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}