Life in These United States

By Reader's Digest Association

The American spirit is alive and well in this collection of heartwarming, often hilarious anecdotes about life in big cities, small towns, and hidden hamlets from coast to coast. Selected from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0895778556
• ISBN13: 9780895778550
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Reader's Digest Association
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Situations can make comedy and the differences in the U. S. population create many of them

In many cases, the best way to deal with difficult situations is by looking at it via a sideways glance through a humorous prism. That prism is provided by the stories in this book. The "Life in These United States" feature of Reader's Digest provides some true and often humorous appraisals of how life is lived in the United States. They cover everything from the unprecedented freedom in the country to situations that occur in everyday life. Some of them are classics, for example the standard joke of being asked about a mutual acquaintance, speaking negatively about that person and then being told that they or a relative is married to them. Situations can make comedy and the wide differences in the citizenship of the United States create many different contexts for jokes. Many of those contexts are utilized in this book to make stories that illustrate some aspect of life in the U. S.

Who says we need professional comics to amuse us?

I won't try to outdo Caroline's excellent review ,but to echo that I enjoyed this little book. When I bought my copy it was one of a set of 3 little books in a slipcase. The others were"Word Power",see my review ,Jul.,14 ,2004 and "Quotable Quotes" Sept.,11,2004.;both of which I rated 5*s This little light set would be a great gift for someone who just wants a little bit of relaxed reading to fill a bit of time.I'll be passing mine along to a shut-in at the first opportunity.

A truly enjoyable reading experience!

A mailman who was delivering mail to a new resident of a surburban home took off in a hurry upon hearing the "friendly" woman call out to him, "Come on in honey, and take your pants off!" The woman mistakenly thought that the mailman was her five- year-old son returning from school. She discovered the truth when she went outside looking for her son and discovered the mail scattered about the front scoop! This embarrassing but funny tale is a 1983 excerpt from Reader's Digest's most popular department and new book, "Life In These United States®." The first collection of Life In These United States® was published in Reader's Digest in March of 1943. Over the years, the department has become almost synonymous with the magazine, being one of the first sections that readers turn to first. Now, Reader's Digest has assembled some of the department's best selections from the past fifty years into the book, "Life In These United States®." Inside the book you'll find true stories from people all across America; funny, heartwarming, inspiring tales that will make you smile and think about how we look at ourselves and the world around us. Although the contributors of the tales come from different backgrounds and cultures, the stories that they share are ones that we've all experienced (or are glad that we haven't!). Pick up a copy of "Life In These United States®," put your feet up, and get ready to spend an enjoyable hour or two reading! I know that I'll now chuckle every time that I see the mailman! Caroline Kent caro@earthlink.net