Wry Harvest: An Anthology of Midwest Humor (Quarry Books)

Book Overview

If you live in the Midwest, you have to know how to laugh. Tornados, floods, drought, and miles and miles of flat land: if you don't have a sense of humor, you might want to consider living somewhere else. Humor is as natural to the Midwest as cow pats and corn mazes, seed caps and road kill, Johnny Carson and David Letterman.

This book gathers some of the best stories from the humorists of the big belly of America, past and present. Here are Mark Twain, George Ade, Finley Peter Dunne, Don Marquis, and Ring Lardner; James Thurber, Ruth McKenney, Erma Bombeck, Calvin Trillin, and Garrison Keillor--Midwesterners, one and all. There's even a piece from William Dean Howells, not usually known for his knock-me-down humor. You'll also find tales from Ambrose Bierce, Kin Hubbard, Sinclair Lewis, Mike Royko, Donald Kaul, P. J. O'Rourke, and Bill Bryson.

Here is a book to curl up with when the cows don't come home, the crick's flooded, and the fox has bedded down in the henhouse. It'll put a smile on your face and make you glad you don't live in New York City, even if you do.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253218721
• ISBN13: 9780253218728
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Quarry Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A hands-down perfect giftbook for anyone who likes a laugh and has hearty respect for Midwest cultur

Edited by Associate Professor of Communication (College of Charleston) Chris Lamb, Wry Harvest: An Anthology of Midwest Humor is an anthology of some of the best and funniest stories from authors ranging from Mark Twain and Don Marquis to Erma Bombeck and Garrison Keillor. Most mirth-inducing anecdotes and tall tales are only a few pages long; each is sure to bring a smile to the face of city slicker and country dweller alike. A hands-down perfect giftbook for anyone who likes a laugh and has hearty respect for Midwest culture.