Rebellious Laughter: People's Humor in American Culture

Joseph Boskin changes the way we think about the ordinary joke and its connection to historical forces. Claiming that humor in America is a primary cultural weapon, Boskin surveys and analyzes the multitude of joke cycles that have swept the country during the last fifty years. Dumb Blonde jokes. Elephant jokes. Jewish-American Princess jokes. Lightbulb jokes. Rebellious Laughter brings together everyday language, social interaction, and cultural warfare to form a brilliant social history. In this important survey, readers will find humor from sources as diverse as the U.S. itself: jokes from whites, blacks, women, and Hispanics; conservatives and liberals; public workers and university students; the powerless and power brokers. With wit and insight Boskin notes how humor is a cultural tool that can be both a divisive and a coalescing force behind social change and conflict. He argues that jokes provide a cultural barometer of concerns and anxieties, frequently appearing in our day-to-day language long before these issues become grist for stand-up comics. Laughter, he states, is transformative, the means by which Americans grapple with incongruities that all too often can undercut lofty expectations and ideals.