The United States of Absurdity: Untold Stories from American History

by Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds

Patton Oswalt (Foreword)

The creators of the podcast The Dollop present illustrated profiles of the weird, outrageous, NSFW, and downright absurd tales from American history that you weren't taught in school.

The United States of Absurdity presents short, informative, and hilarious stories of the most outlandish (but true) people, events, and more from United States history. Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds cover the weird stories you didn't learn in history class, such as 10-Cent Beer Night, the Jackson Cheese, and the Kentucky Meat Shower, accompanied by full-page illustrations that bring each historical "milestone" to life in full-color. 

• ISBN10: 0399578757
• ISBN13: 9780399578755
• Publish Date: 9 May 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ten Speed Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 144
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780399578755

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I'd say this is a perfect book for teens, as a hook to get them interested in history, but the casual use of colourful language disqualifies this book for any educational purposes, never mind the section on the Newport Sex Scandal.     So it's definitely aimed at adults, but the adults reading it would best enjoy it fi they picked it up for the humor, because while the anecdotes are factual, the subjects and tone are best enjoyed by someone looking for quirky good fun.   With this in mind, I enjoyed the book; it was a humorous, quick read and I learned a few things (I had no idea we had  a straw hat riot).  But I'd like to declare the whole 'how lobotomies became a thing' story as definitely NOT untold.  I've read about Freeman several times in the last few years, so I think it's safe to say that cat is out of the bag.     I did skip the last section completely (the last 14 pages), except for the last story concerning the Kentucky meat shower; it covers, best I can tell from that sections introduction, stories of absurd things we've done to/with animals.  I'm not even going there.  (Although the Kentucky meat thing had a pretty funny, and totally natural, if unbelievable, explanation.)

[Mystereity Reviews]

See my full review (and more!) at Mystereity Reviews

The duo from The Dollop podcast have written a book full of the odd, the outrageous and all the funny stories that never made it into the history books.

This was a very humorous take on some of the lesser well-known stories that make up the fabric of our history. The presidential cheese story made me chuckle (What. A. Legend.) and the Lobotomobile story was outrageous, but the best story, and the reason I wanted to read this book, was the Kentucky Meat Shower story.

The stories are indeed hilarious and absurd, but not necessarily untold. I've seen a few of the stories in other places, and Reddit is full of Action Park stories (and even has its own subreddit, /r/actionpark, so check that out if you want more!)

Overall, The United States of Absurdity is a short and funny look at US history, great as a time-waster, side-splitting funny and a must-read for trivia fans and history buffs.

Thank you to Ten Speed Press and NetGalley, who provided an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.