This beautifully illustrated volume brings together the finest works of Ring Lardner, one of America’s most distinctive literary voices of the early 20th century. Known for his sharp wit, ear for dialogue, and keen sense of irony, Lardner masterfully captured the quirks of American life through sports, relationships, and social satire. The collection features You Know Me, Al, a groundbreaking series of fictional letters from a naive baseball player that brilliantly parody fame, ambition, a...

First published in 1929, public domain. Lardner, American humorist and short-story writer, is known for his mordant wit, exemplified in satirical stories and sketches of American life in the early 20th century told in the language of athletes, stockbrokers, secretaries, chorus girls, etc. This is a compilation of almost all of his best stories.

In 1917, Ring Lardner was sent on assignment as a war correspondent on the French front for a series of reports for Collier's magazine. Appearing in serialized format in the magazine before its eventual publication as a book, My Four Weeks in France recalls Lardner's experiences in his new wartime role. Being a humorist and a satirist, it would have been inconsistent with his typical format to write harrowing stories about the horrors of combat. For this reason, this book instead consists ...

In "You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters," Ring Lardner employs a distinctive epistolary format to narrate the experiences of a naïve, small-town baseball player named Jack Keefe. Through a series of humorous and often sardonic letters written to his friend Al, Lardner cleverly critiques the world of professional baseball in the early 20th century. The book showcases Lardner's keen ear for dialogue and his mastery of colloquial speech, reflecting the intricacies of American vernacular. The ...

This collection brings together twenty-one of Lardner’s best pieces, including the six Jack Keefe stories that comprise You Know Me, Al, as well as such familiar favorites as “Alibi Ike,” “Some Like Them Cold,” and “Guillible’s Travels.”For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and ac...

"The Real Dope" by Ring Lardner is a captivating exploration of the complexities of human relationships and the often humorous intricacies of life. Lardner's sharp wit and keen observations shine through as he delves into the world of sports and the people surrounding it. The narrative is rich with dialogue that captures the essence of the characters, making it a delightful read for those who appreciate clever storytelling and the nuances of everyday life. Lardner's unique voice and style ...

Published in The Saturday Evening Post between 1916 and 1917, the stories that make up Gullible's Travels follow the comical misadventures of a long-suffering husband and his aspiring socialite wife. The unnamed protagonists and their hapless attempts to climb the social ladder serve as a canvas for Ring Lardner to satirize marriage, social dynamics, and the newly emerging middle class of the late 1910s. In 1917, the first five stories about the unnamed narrator and his "Missus" were compi...

At the height of the Jazz Age, Ring Lardner was America’s most beloved humorist, equally admired by a popular audience and by literary friends like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edmund Wilson. A sports writer who became a sensation with his comic baseball bestseller, You Know Me Al, Lardner had a rare gift for inspired nonsense and an ear attuned to the rhythms and hilarious oddities of American speech. He was also a sharp and dispassionate observer of the American scene. His best stori...

Ring Lardner was by most accounts a writer who excelled at creating situations about apple pie America and them warping them with his exceptional satirical gifts to an altogether different plane. In The Big Town he and the missus go to New York to help her sister Katie find a husband. A simple enough premise but life in the Big Apple with Lardners writing is pure genius.

We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation ? Ring Lardner was a prolific 20th century American humorist and journalist best known for his baseball stories and reportage, whose corpus nevertheless spans a wide range of genres and styles. He began his professional career as a sports reporter, but his literary career began in earnest in 1913 when he took over the C...

The arrogant, proud, and mostly illiterate Jack Keefe of Bedford, Indiana had already established a career pitching for the minor league baseball club in Terre Haute. His strong pitching arm attracted the attention of Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey and before he knew it, Keefe had been signed to play for the team. Through the ups and downs of his life, from his baseball career, to his marriage and family, to his service in World War I and his eventual return to baseball, Jack Kee...

"Treat 'em Rough: Letters from Jack the Kaiser Killer" is a compelling collection of correspondence that captures the raw emotions and experiences of soldiers during World War I. The letters, penned by Jack Lardner, provide a vivid glimpse into the life of a soldier, detailing the camaraderie, struggles, and the harsh realities of war. Lardner's unique voice and perspective bring to life the challenges faced by those on the front lines, making the reader feel the weight of each word and th...