Walter Blair was the literary scholar who almost single-handedly gave the study of American humor significance in the academic world. By categorizing the writings of American literary humorists into such diverse styles as the Old Southwest, Local Color, and Literary Comedian humor -- each having serious social import--Blair abolished the

This volume contains 16 reprinted and seven original essays. James Cox considers the vigor of American humor as an outgrowth of the nation's optimistic expansionist energies and a reflection of its political liberty and relative material prosperity, W.P. Trent discusses the principal figures and movements in the development of American

Critical studies attempting to define and dissect American humor have been published steadily for nearly one hundred years. However, until now, key documents from that history have never been brought together in a single volume for students and scholars. What's So Funny? Humor in American Culture, a collection of 15

This volume contains 16 reprinted and seven original essays. James Cox considers the vigor of American humor as an outgrowth of the nation's optimistic expansionist energies and a reflection of its political liberty and relative material prosperity, W.P. Trent discusses the principal figures and movements in the development of American

Rhetoric, Humor, and the Public Sphere: From Socrates to Stephen Colbert investigates classical and contemporary understandings of satire, parody, and irony, and how these genres function within a deliberative democracy. Elizabeth Benacka examines the rhetorical history, theorization, and practice of humor spanning from ancient Greece and Rome to the contemporary