Imagine if Elizabeth Cady Stanton had been distracted from her suffrage efforts as a result of she fell in love, Hallmark movie-style, with a neighborhood Seneca Falls man. Or if Emily Dickinson contacted tech assist however may solely talk in her trademark poetic fashion. Or if the Gettysburg Address had been written by “The West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin.
Alexandra Petri has lengthy entertained Washington Post readers along with her absurdist columns on the newest political and popular culture information. In her dazzling ebook of historic humor, Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up), she exhibits once more why legendary humor author Dave Barry known as her “the funniest person in Washington.” Petri’s seemingly easy capability to reimagine American historical past in essentially the most weird methods makes this one of essentially the most entertaining books you’ll learn this 12 months.
In an essay titled “Why the National Parks Were Set Aside,” Petri data the explanations she assumes some of our most well-known landmarks have been preserved: “Yellowstone: GEYSER SQUIRTS HUGE AMOUNTS OF WATER INTO AIR WITHOUT WARNING. . . . Zion: Seems steep. . . . Grand Canyon: Big hole in the ground without proper signage. Leave it as it is.” And in “John and Abigail Adams Try Sexting,” Petri imagines the Founding Father and his spouse writing a sequence of racy (for the 1700s) letters whereas he’s in Paris. “I am attired in a woolen gown and a cap of a stiff linen material, as well as five petticoats, my bustle, and my customary stays. I was wearing stockings, but I am not wearing them any longer,” Abigail writes. “I hope that soon you shall be wearing merely four!” John replies.
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Petri’s earlier ebook of essays, the wonderful Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, centered on present matters comparable to QAnon conspiracies and the Trump administration. This new assortment feels considerably sweeter and gentler, albeit nonetheless side-splittingly humorous. It’s a satirical salve at a time after we want humor greater than ever.
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