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American Laughter, American Fury : Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850

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Title: American Laughter, American Fury : Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850
Description: How humor helped white men cast the United States as a nation in which only they were entitled to citizenship.A joke is never just a joke—not even in the eighteenth century. In American Laughter, American Fury, Eran A. Zelnik offers a cultural history of early America that shows how humor among white men served to define and construct not only whiteness and masculinity but also American political culture and democracy more generally. Zelnik traces the emerging bonds of affinity that white male settlers in North America cultivated through their shared, transformative experience of mirth. This humor—a category that includes not only jokes but also play, riot, revelry, and mimicry—shaped the democratic and anti-elitist sensibilities of Americans. It also defined the borders of who could participate in politics, notably excluding those who were not white men. While this anti-authoritarian humor transformed the early United States into a country that abhorred elitism and class hierarchies, ultimately the story is one of democratization gone awry: this same humor allowed white men to draw the borders of the new nation exclusively around themselves. Zelnik analyzes several distinct forms of humor to make his case: tall tales,'Indian play,'Black dialect, riot and revelry, revolutionary protests, and blackface minstrelsy. This provocative study seeks to understand the vexing, contradictory interplay among humor, democracy, and violence at the heart of American history and culture that continues today.
Authors: Eran A. Zelnik
Resource Type: eBook.
Subjects: African Americans--History, White people--United States--Attitudes, American wit and humor--History and criticism, National characteristics, American
Categories: HUMOR / Topic / History, HISTORY / United States / General, HISTORY / United States / 19th Century
Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
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  Data: American Laughter, American Fury : Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850
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  Data: How humor helped white men cast the United States as a nation in which only they were entitled to citizenship.A joke is never just a joke—not even in the eighteenth century. In American Laughter, American Fury, Eran A. Zelnik offers a cultural history of early America that shows how humor among white men served to define and construct not only whiteness and masculinity but also American political culture and democracy more generally. Zelnik traces the emerging bonds of affinity that white male settlers in North America cultivated through their shared, transformative experience of mirth. This humor—a category that includes not only jokes but also play, riot, revelry, and mimicry—shaped the democratic and anti-elitist sensibilities of Americans. It also defined the borders of who could participate in politics, notably excluding those who were not white men. While this anti-authoritarian humor transformed the early United States into a country that abhorred elitism and class hierarchies, ultimately the story is one of democratization gone awry: this same humor allowed white men to draw the borders of the new nation exclusively around themselves. Zelnik analyzes several distinct forms of humor to make his case: tall tales,'Indian play,'Black dialect, riot and revelry, revolutionary protests, and blackface minstrelsy. This provocative study seeks to understand the vexing, contradictory interplay among humor, democracy, and violence at the heart of American history and culture that continues today.
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      – Code: 817.009
        Scheme: ddc
        Type: prePub
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: African Americans--History
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: White people--United States--Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: American wit and humor--History and criticism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: National characteristics, American
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: American Laughter, American Fury : Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850
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            NameFull: Eran A. Zelnik
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
            – D: 13
              M: 12
              Type: profile
              Y: 2024
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            – Type: isbn-print
              Value: 9781421450605
            – Type: isbn-electronic
              Value: 9781421450612
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: American Laughter, American Fury : Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850
              Type: main
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