Historical Humor

“Weird Things in History and Why the Heck They Happened” is back with another collection of 25 of some of the weirdest historical facts! This second volume continues to peel back the layers of conventional history to reveal the forgotten, the bizarre, and the downright hilarious events that shaped our world today. Prepare to be entertained, enlightened, and left in awe as you uncover 25 more offbeat historical tales that somehow managed to miss the pages of your school textbooks. Among the collection of tales, you’ll encounter some not-as-popular historical figures like a German ...

Leaving behind the rural charms of Finnshire, Miss Penelope Fairweather arrives in London with hope in her heart and a dream in her eye. The dowager, no less, has invited her for a season in London, where she will attempt to catch a husband. Thus begins our heroine’s tale as she attempts to tackle the London season with all her rustic finesse. Unfortunately her rustic finesse turns out to be as delicate as a fat bear trying to rip apart a honeycomb infested with buzzing bees.

Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle. The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry. Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter. Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother's past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.

Val Eliot, a young woman working on an English farm during the war, meets Mike, a US Air Force pilot stationed nearby. When Val rescues a Border Collie named Peter Woodhouse, who is being mistreated by his owner, she realizes the dog would actually be safer with Mike. And so Peter Woodhouse finds a new home on the air force base, and Val finds herself falling in love.

The year is 1087, and a pox is sweeping through the Italian city of Bari. When a lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams, he interprets the vision as a call to serve the sick. But his superiors, and the power brokers they serve, have different plans for the tender-hearted Brother Nicephorus. Enter Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter renowned for “liberating” holy relics from their tombs. The seven-hundred-year-old bones of Saint Nicholas are rumored to weep a mysterious liquid that can heal the sick, Tyun says.

Why does the powerfully built, golden-haired Lord St. Evert dress like an overdone dandy? His outlandish wardrobe belies the hard unyielding lines of his face. Whoever he is, he's ruining Elizabeth Hampton's desperate scheme to secure a rich husband. Terribly vexing, to arrive at the most fashionable breakfast party of the season wearing a perfectly stunning Chinese silk gown, only to discover that Lord St. Evert is clad in unmentionables cut from identical cloth.

When Ellison Russell, reluctant finder of bodies, chairs a gala in conjunction with the museum's Chinese funerary exhibit, she expects disaster. So, she's not remotely surprised when a body turns up. Ellison is willing to leave the investigation to the police till an attempt is made on her life. Now she's juggling evading a killer, her aunt's overly-amorous beau, her dog's new love interest, and Mother's displeasure. With bodies piling up, if Ellison's not careful, staying alive might be impossible.

From Boston's social underworld emerges Verena Tarrant, a girl with extraordinary oratorical gifts, which she deploys in tawdry meeting-houses on behalf of "the sisterhood of women". She acquires two admirers of a very different stamp: Olive Chancellor, devotee of radical causes, and marked out for tragedy; and Basil Ransom, veteran of the Civil War, with rigid views concerning society and women's place therein. Is the lovely, lighthearted Verena made for public movements or private passions?

Warlock Holmes may have demons in his head, but now Dr. John Watson has a mummy in his bloodstream. Specifically that of the sorcerer Xantharaxes, who when shredded and dissolved in an 8 percent solution, results in some extremely odd but useful prophetic dreams. There's also the small matter of Watson falling for yet another damsel-du-jour, and Warlock deciding that his companion needs some domestic bliss....

A tempestuous acquaintance and disastrous marriage proposal makes it unlikely Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet will ever reconcile. Despairing of their own reunion, they attend with great energy to salvaging that of Darcy’s friend Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth’s sister Jane. People are rarely so easily maneuvered in and out of love, however, they follow a series of misunderstandings, both willful and unwitting, that complicates all four star-crossed lovers’ alliances more than ever before.

Max wants to be a knight! Too bad that dream is about as likely as finding a friendly dragon. But when Max's uncle Budrick is kidnapped by the cruel King Gastley, Max has to act...and fast! Joined by a band of brave adventurers - the Midknights - Max sets out on a thrilling quest: to save Uncle Budrick and restore the realm of Byjovia to its former high spirits!

Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.

In a game of secrets and spies, love ignites between bitter enemies. Lord Buckworth, a renowned libertine, is infamous for his daring exploits and insatiable appetite for risk. But when he rigs a card game to win the services of Frederick Thorndyke, a man with whom he shares a painful past, his devious plans may cost him more than he bargained for. Thorn despises his reckless brother-in-law, who gambles the family fortune away to the brink of financial ruin. Now, sold into service by one of the gambler’s lost wagers, Thorn finds himself in the power of the very man he once loved and lost....

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic departed England, ultimately bound for America. It famously struck an iceberg along the way, and as the mighty ship went down, it took 1,500 people with it, most of them good-hearted, innocent people. But what of the jerks, losers, weirdos, and malcontents? They were also People of the Titanic. In this comical, fanciful— and completely hypothetical — depiction of life on the Titanic, Shawn Carlow (Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) brings to the surface 30 stories of doomed souls who sailed upon that ship of dreams. Revel in the never-before...

Once again, Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears. Fannie truly writes from the heartland, and her storytelling is, to quote Time, "utterly irresistible."

Simon’s a cowboy with a passel of trouble, and only one person can help. Virginia. The prim, fussy daughter of the Texas governor. The one girl he used to tease… endlessly. If she won’t help, Simon’s friend will go to prison, leaving him to raise his two godsons, a pair of unruly boys who might just be more trouble than he ever was. Simon hasn’t seen Virginia since they were both kids, playing chase at the county fair. With a little luck, and a lot of prayers, Virginia won’t remember his pranks. After all, plenty of time has passed. Surely, Virginia wouldn’t still hold a ...

Last Days of Summer is the story of Joey Margolis, neighborhood punching bag, growing up goofy and mostly fatherless in Brooklyn in the early 1940s. A boy looking for a hero, Joey decides to latch on to Charlie Banks, the all-star third basemen for the New York Giants. But Joey's chosen champion doesn't exactly welcome the extreme attention of a persistent young fan with an overactive imagination. Then again, this strange, needy kid might be exactly what Banks needs.

Texas, 1890 - Desperate but Determined When Daisy Muldoon’s uncle dies in a logging accident, he leaves behind a modest inheritance. The problem? He hid the money somewhere in their rented cottage, and no one knows exactly where. Without the money, Daisy and her two younger sisters have no means to escape the rough logging town where men outnumber women five to one. With the new sawmill owner intending to live in the cottage, Daisy must find the family money before time runs out. She prays the good Lord will provide an answer. Pineville is no place for three vulnerable girls. Loyal and ...

From USA Today bestselling author, Julie Mulhern, comes a short worthy of the Country Club Murders name. For Aggie DeLucci, former assistant private investigator and current housekeeper extraordinaire, 1975 is turning out to be a banner year. There’s a new man her life, Mac. He makes her laugh, takes her dancing, and makes a helluva salami sandwich. When Mac is accused of theft, it’s up to Aggie to clear his name. She’ll have to polish her slightly tarnished investigative kills and tame her fears (and her hair) to catch the real thief. If this is your first trip to 70s Kansas City, ...

After being jilted by her fiance, Dulcie Mainwaring despairs of ever finding true love. For a distraction, she goes to a publishing conference, where she meets Viola Dace, a dramatic woman who refuses to live without romance, as well as Aylwin Forbes, an editor whom Viola adores. The fact that Aylwin is married doesn't stop Viola. When her amorous pursuit prompts Aylwin's wife to leave him, the academic heartthrob is wide open to Viola's romantic attentions. That is, until Dulcie's 18-year-old niece moves in with Viola, and the young girl soon catches Aylwin's roving eye.