Funny Business

“A delightful and entertaining book about one of America’s greatest humorists…Funny Business brings Art Buchwald’s charming and zany career back to life.”—Seth Meyers“[An] absorbing biography of ‘one of America’s greatest satirists.’”—The New York Times“In this absorbing, illuminating, and wonderfully entertaining book, Michael Hill brings the great Art Buchwald back to vivid life. Satire has been a force in political life since antiquity, and Hill’s account, based on unparalleled access to Buchwald’s personal papers, explores both an era and a man with grace and skill.”—Jon Meacham, author of American Lion “There was a time not that long ago when Americans of all views saw political humor mainly as entertainment, not as a weapon for bashing the other side. The most beloved figure in those gentler pre-Twitter times was Art Buchwald—a fun-loving bon vivant, a sweetheart, and, above all, a ridiculously funny man whose columns made Americans, whatever their politics, laugh together. We could use him now. But if we can’t have Art, we can, through this delightful book, relive the many wonderful times he gave us.”—Dave Barry, author of Best. State. Ever. “Art Buchwald was my first newspaper hero. I sent him a bunch of my columns from the college paper, and he wrote back to say he liked them. ‘But if you keep writing,’ he added, ‘I’ll have to kill you.’ In today’s reeking dumpster fumes of American politics, we could use a columnist as mercilessly fast and funny as Buchwald. The problem is that there will never be anyone as good, and Michael Hill’s rousing and revealing book reminds us why.”—Carl Hiaasen, author of Squeeze Me “Michael Hill has provided the perfect antidote to the vapidity and bile of our mean-spirited times. The story of the columnist who knew how to make a nation laugh at its own absurdities—three times a week—Funny Business is a delightful romp of a book.”—Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea“A heartfelt tribute to one of American journalism’s most influential jesters.”—Kirkus Reviews

Michael Hill is a historical researcher who has assisted acclaimed authors including David McCullough, Jon Meacham, Senator John McCain, and Michael Beschloss. He won an Emmy Award for his work as a co-producer on Ken Burns’s PBS series The Civil War and served as a historical consultant on the HBO miniseries John Adams. A graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Hill also served as a press assistant to former vice president Walter F. Mondale.

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