{"product_id":"how-the-other-half-laughs-jean-lee-cole-9781496826527","title":"How the Other Half Laughs: The Comic Sensibility in American Culture, 1895-1920","description":"\u003cb\u003eHonorable Mention Recipient for the Charles Hatfield Book Prize\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTaking up the role of laughter in society, \u003ci\u003eHow the Other Half Laughs: \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Comic Sensibility in American Culture, 1895-1920\u003c\/i\u003e examines an era in which the US population was becoming increasingly multiethnic and multiracial. Comic artists and writers, hoping to create works that would appeal to a diverse audience, had to formulate a method for making the \"other half\" laugh. In magazine fiction, vaudeville, and the comic strip, the oppressive conditions of the poor and the marginalized were portrayed unflinchingly, yet with a distinctly comic sensibility that grew out of caricature and ethnic humor. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAuthor Jean Lee Cole analyzes Progressive Era popular culture, providing a critical angle to approach visual and literary humor about ethnicity--how avenues of comedy serve as expressions of solidarity, commiseration, and empowerment. Cole's argument centers on the comic sensibility, which she defines as a performative act that fosters feelings of solidarity and community among the marginalized. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Cole stresses the connections between the worlds of art, journalism, and literature and the people who produced them--including George Herriman, R. F. Outcault, Rudolph Dirks, Jimmy Swinnerton, George Luks, and William Glackens--and traces the form's emergence in the pages of Joseph Pulitzer's \u003ci\u003eNew York World \u003c\/i\u003eand William Randolph Hearst's \u003ci\u003eJournal-American \u003c\/i\u003eand how it influenced popular fiction, illustration, and art. \u003ci\u003eHow the Other Half Laughs\u003c\/i\u003e restores the newspaper comic strip to its rightful place as a transformative element of American culture at the turn into the twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jean Lee Cole\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1496826523\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496826527\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/27\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 214\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.50d","brand":"Jean Lee Cole","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44054806987007,"sku":"9781496826527","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_b3df073d-e0a2-4e23-b318-c3229961d1d2.jpg?v=1685032108","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/how-the-other-half-laughs-jean-lee-cole-9781496826527","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}