Access Type
Online access to this book is only available to eligible users.
Files
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Description
Humor is sometimes a serious business, especially the humor of Benjamin Franklin, a master at revealing the human condition through comedy. For the country's bicentennial, Reader's Digest named Franklin “Man of the Year” for embodying the characteristics we admire most about ourselves as Americans: humor, irony, energy, and fresh insight. Recreating Franklin's words in the way that his contemporaries would have read and understood them, this book chronicles Franklin's use (and abuse) of humor for commercial, diplomatic, and political purposes. Dedicated to the uniquely appealing and enduring humor of Benjamin Franklin, the book samples Franklin's apologues on the necessity of living reasonably even when life's circumstances may seem absurd.
Publication Date
2005
Publisher
The University Press of Kentucky
Place of Publication
Lexington, KY
ISBN
978-0-8131-2371-4
eISBN
978-0-8131-7186-9 (pdf version)
eISBN
978-0-8131-3817-6 (epub version)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813123714.001.0001
Keywords
Humor, Benjamin Franklin, Comedy, Reader's Digest, Apologues, Absurd
Disciplines
Political History | United States History
Recommended Citation
Zall, Paul M., "Benjamin Franklin’s Humor" (2005). United States History. 173.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/173
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