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“It is Johnson’s gift that he can make his subjects human and fallible enough that we would…recognize them instantly, while also illuminating what made them heroes.” —Washington Post Book World on Heroes
“Johnson is a clear, intelligent, forceful writer, and nothing if not thorough.” —Wall Street Journal
Paul Johnson, the acclaimed author of Creators, Heroes, and the New York Times bestseller Intellectuals, returns with a captivating collection of biographical portraits of the Western world’s greatest wits and humorists. With chapters dedicated to history’s sharpest tongues and most piercing pens, including Benjamin Franklin, Toulouse-Lautrec, G.K. Chesterton, Damon Runyan, W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, and many more, Johnson’s Humorists is an exciting compendium of our most enduring comical and satirical innovators.
Paul Johnson, the acclaimed author of Creators, Heroes, and the New York Times bestseller Intellectuals, returns with a captivating collection featuring the Western world’s greatest wits. Benjamin Franklin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, G. K. Chesterton, Damon Runyan, and the Marx Brothers are just a few of the comical and satirical innovators featured in Humorists.
In this collection of chapter-length biographical portraits, Johnson provides a comprehensive tour of great humorists throughout Western history. Filled with satire, sarcasm, dark humor and bawdy wit, this entertaining and erudite collection captures history’s sharpest minds as they reflect on the human condition’s follies, pretensions, and foibles. Paul Johnson is the author of many books which cover a wide range of topics, including A History of Christianity, A History of the Jews, Modern Times and Art: A New History. He regularly writes book reviews for several magazines and newspapers, including the Literary Review and the Spectator, and lectures around the world. He lives in London, England. “Johnson is a clear, intelligent, forceful writer, and nothing if not thorough.” — Wall Street JournalYou may also like
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