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.)

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.

I so need to catch up with you all, and I need to correct my read shelf...but I have a very good excuse. I have been knee-deep in an excellent project:

I am the webmaster and the librarian for the The Dollop Podcast's website. It's an American history podcast by two comedians, Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds. After they broadcast, I write so-you-want-to-know-more blog entries, pages, post original documents, etc.

Come check us out!

thedollop.net

the podcast on iTunes

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book tag on thedollop.net

I've missed you guys. Now that I have this bad boy on an even keel, I can maintain both my reading journal and The Dollop. Time to catch uupppppppppp...