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Discover illustrated profiles of the weird, outrageous (and true!) tales from American history that don't appear in school textbooks.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS 

Great American Characters • 5
Michael Malloy • 7 
Lobster Boy • 11
Oofty Goofty • 15
David Hahn • 19
Elvis and Nixon • 23
 
The Best of American Sports • 27
Rainbow Man • 29
Rube Waddell • 33
Lenny Dykstra • 37
Tim “Doc” Anderson • 41
Ten-Cent Beer Night • 47

Great American Medical Breakthroughs • 51
John R. Brinkley • 53
Henry Heimlich • 57
Freeman’s Lobotomies • 61
The Stomach Men • 65
Resurrection Men • 69

Very Bad American Ideas • 73
The Flying Pinto • 75
Action Park • 79
Jackson Cheese • 83
Radium Girls • 87
The Straw Hat Riot • 91

When Americans Go Wrong • 95
Eggnog Riot • 97
Newport Sex Scandal • 101
The Vampire Panic • 105
The Death of George Washington • 109

American Tails • 113
The Dolphin • 115
Mike the Chicken • 119
The Hippo Bill • 123
George Spencer • 127
Kentucky Meat Shower • 131

About the Author

DAVE ANTHONY is a stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and podcaster.Beside co-hosting The Dollop, he's been seen as a stand up on Jimmy KimmelLive, The Late Late Show, and on Comedy Central. He is a writer/actor on Maronon IFC. In 2015, he was named Comedian to Watch by L.A. Weekly.

GARETH REYNOLDS is a writer/comedian who has written for shows on Comedy Central,Fox, TBS, and MTV. He has executive produced shows like MTV's Failosophy andthe Travel Channel's Mancations.

Reviews

"The United States of Absurdity, a new book from the hosts of the American history podcast The Dollop, couldn't have picked a better time to arrive. Think of it as A People's History of the United States for the slightly lazy."
—NPR.org

"If my history teachers in high school had been half as smart and one-tenth as entertaining as Dave and Gareth, I could probably tell you who fought in the Spanish-American War today.”
—Josh Olson, Oscar-nominated screenwriter for A History of Violence

“This book, just like The Dollop, will teach you things you'll wish you had learned in history class. I dare you not to be equal parts fascinated, horrified, and in stitches.”
 —Al Madrigal, actor and comedian, The Daily Show

"Dave and Gareth have created an amazing record of historical eccentricities which, while hysterically informative, has thus far only been available for your ears. This book will take The Dollop into the uncharted territory of your eyes. And hopefully, if my many requests are heeded—there will be a scented version."
 —Chris Hardwick, @midnight and Talking Dead

"The United States of Absurdity is so funny that it makes me want to kidnap Dave and Gareth, keep them in a basement, and then live out their identities as my own…which would still not be the weirdest story in this book."
 —Wil Anderson, stand-up comedian, television host, writer, and podcaster

“Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds could make anything funny. This book is proof. Good thing they decided to use their powers for good to educate the masses with the lessons we can learn from history. Even the parts of history that make us vomit in our mouths a little.”
—Ronny Chieng, stand-up comedian and correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah