From the preeminent historian of comedy, an expansive history of show business and the battles over culture that have echoed through the decades and changed the United States“Outrageous is required reading. An essential book of the social history of the United States—with laughs.” (Steve Martin)There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that nobody got offended in the past, that people are simply too sensitive to...

*A Best Book of the Year by NPR and Esquire*"A remarkable book." —Steve Martin"An illumating and stereotype-busting history of Native Americans and comedy" (The Washington Post) from Kliph Nesteroff, “the human encyclopedia of comedy” (VICE).It was one of the most reliable jokes in Charlie Hill’s stand-up routine: “My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York....

"Funny [and] fascinating . . . If you're a comedy nerd you'll love this book." — Pittsburgh Post-GazetteNamed a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, National Post, and SplitsiderBased on over two hundred original interviews and extensive archival research, this groundbreaking work is a narrative exploration of the way comedians have reflected, shaped, and changed American culture over the past one hundred years.Starting...

The definitive history of the world's most polite revolution: How Canadian comics took over the comedy world."Canada is chock-full of broadcasting talent but hasn't a comedian worth his salt." So said the first Canadian Radio Commissioner echoing a near universal sentiment throughout most of the twentieth century: Canadians simply weren't that funny. They were too deferential, too serious, too Canadian to be funny. And yet, behind their polite exterior, Ca...

*A Best Book of the Year by NPR and Esquire*"A remarkable book." —Steve Martin"An illumating and stereotype-busting history of Native Americans and comedy" (The Washington Post) from Kliph Nesteroff, “the human encyclopedia of comedy” (VICE).It was one of the most reliable jokes in Charlie Hill’s stand-up routine: “My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York....

The definitive history of the world's most polite revolution: How Canadian comics took over the comedy world."Canada is chock-full of broadcasting talent but hasn't a comedian worth his salt." So said the first Canadian Radio Commissioner echoing a near universal sentiment throughout most of the twentieth century: Canadians simply weren't that funny. They were too deferential, too serious, too Canadian to be funny. And yet, behind their polite exterior, Ca...

From the preeminent historian of modern comedy comes an expansive history of showbiz and the culture warsThere is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny?In Outr...

NATIONAL BESTSELLERRead by Author, Mike Hixenbaugh, who delivers this compelling and eye-opening account.The urgent, revelatory story of how a school board win for the conservative right in one Texas suburb inspired a Christian nationalist campaign now threatening to undermine public education in America—from an NBC investigative reporter and co-creator of the Peabody Award–winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist Southlake podc...

By the time his body hung from the gallows for his crimes at Harper's Ferry, abolitionists had made John Brown a "holy martyr" in the fight against Southern slave owners. But Northern hatred for Southerners had been long in the making. Northern rage was born of the conviction that New England, whose spokesmen and militia had begun the American Revolution, should have been the leader of the new nation. Instead, they had been displaced by Southern "slavocrats" like Thomas Jefferson. And Nort...

**FINALIST FOR THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZEA WASHINGTON POST BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2023A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF 2023“With illuminating, vivid, and meticulous prose, Edwin Raymond delivers an extraordinary exposé on policing in America . . . An essential, exceptional work.”—Toluse Olorunnipa, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of His Name Is George FloydFrom the highest-ranking whistleblower in NYPD history, a gripping ...

Sasha LaPointe has always longed for a sense of home. When she was a child, her family moved around frequently, often staying in barely habitable church attics and trailers, dangerous places for young Sasha.With little more to guide her than a passion for the thriving punk scene of the Pacific Northwest and a desire to live up to the responsibility of being the namesake of her beloved great-grandmother—a linguist who helped preserve her Indigenous language of Lushootseed—Sasha thro...

Eighteen stories of Christmas horror from bestselling, acclaimed authors, including Scott Smith, Seanan McGuire, Josh Malerman, Michael Koryta, and Sarah Pinborough.That there is darkness at the heart of the Yuletide season should not surprise. Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is filled with scenes that are unsettling. Marley untying the bandage that holds his jaws together. The hideous children—Want and Ignorance—beneath the robe of the Ghost of Christ...