Comic History of the United States

by Bill Nye, Allyson Hester (Narrator)

This text takes the reader on a comical journey from the time of the first European settlement through the Civil War. The author's caustic wit is evident throughout the book in his numerous sarcastic and humorous remarks. The reader will enjoy a "different" type of history book based on facts, yet caustically embellished for entertainment purposes. (Summary by Allyson Hester)

Genres: Humor, History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Historical

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

NB: This is not Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Edgar Wilson Nye, an American humorist, also the founded and edited the Laramie Boomerang.

The Boomerang was founded while Nye served as the postmaster of Laramie, Wyoming Territory. It launched him to national fame, gaining subscribers in every state and some foreign countries. His humor was uniquely American.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Anu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe I'm partial to Bill Nye, or maybe I find the lack of political correctness somewhat refreshing. Does that make me a bad person? I hope not! Controversial review to come!

[Duckpondwithoutducks · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is, as stated in the title, a history of the United States that is intended to be funny.
A sample of the kind of humour included can be found here:

"The French and Indian War cost the Colonists sixteen million dollars, of which the English repaid only five million. The Americans lost thirty thousand men, none of whom were replaced."

"Florida was now ceded to the already cedy crown of England by Spain"

"Washington, however, though only an aidy kong of General Forbes, decided to take command"

(Speaking of Benjamin Franklin) "He was the first bald-headed man of any prominence in the history of America."

I must admit that I found the first half much funnier than the second half, maybe because the second half had so much about the Civil War.

I would have given the book three stars, but there were too many comments, apparently meant to be funny, but woefully not, about American Indians, that were dreadfully offensive.

[Thom Swennes · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the first few chapters of Comic History of the United States by Bill Nye I realized I was reading the words without really understanding (and appreciating) it. Not being one to read anything and not enjoying it (much less understanding it) I started again. In order to understand and appreciate this book, the reader has to have a good knowledge of the history of the America’s and the United States in general. With this knowledge one must then push the dusty, dry facts into the background and embrace this work. When I first started this book I imagined it would be a history of the United States written humorously. This, however, isn’t the case. Bill Nye had managed to take the dry and dusty facts and reform them (adding salt and pepper to taste) and create a completely new dish. I have read this book twice and I realize that it vastly improves with repetition. I have promised myself to read it a third time in a few more years and fully expect I can raise my three-star rating to four (any book that requires three readings could never attain a five-star rating) I recommend this to everyone that doesn’t mind re-reading a book to fully understand and appreciate it.

[Sarah Bodaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Comic History of the United States by Bill Nye (no, not THAT Bill Nye. This book was written in the 1880s.)

The book goes from Christopher Columbus to Grover Cleveland, telling an almost completely factual, yet slightly off and a little bit satirical and laughable story of America’s history.
Having a good history base when reading this book is helpful, for some points are easy to tell what is factual, what is total malarkey, and then there were other little comments slid in, that were believable enough to be true, but were they really?
I really don’t know where this book falls. With its comic enlightening of history, it’s not 100% nonfiction, but it’s really old, so it counts one way or the other.
Reviews said that the print edition comes replete with political and historical satire cartoons/illustrations that go along with the pictures, but alas, I had the audiobook.
If you like history and you can find this book, read it! It’s so much fun!!

[Newsha Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so unbelievably racist, that it made me twinge horribly at times while listening. Funny how the writer starts the history from the immigrants coming over not more than two hundred years before, to suddenly dash that big line with the next generation that were trying to do the same, and now we say that we can't understand Donald Trump! It seems people can have really short historical memories no matter how long ago it has been.

[Linda Atkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I downloaded from LibrVox and listened to on child pick-up run today. Some funny commentaries on Queen Isabella, Columbus, Penn and Native Americans. Probably was funnier in its time. Volunteer read- she did a good job.

[Rowlin Lichter]

Yesterdays humor

This is British (lack of)Humor disguised in Americanisms and ridiculous cartoons. I do not recommend that you take the time to read this ponderous time. It was probably funny a century ago.

[Eschargot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as funny as his history of England

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. That's about it.

[Ray Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bill Nye's Comic History of the United States, published in 1894, is a funny little book. Nye is more droll than funny, his puns and word play are quaint. Bill Nye is a 19th century humorist who has several comic histories and books of commentary. Despite the age of his work and the changes is styles and senses of humor over the past hundred years, his works hold up.

In this volume, Nye takes us from early settlement to the late 19th century. His coverage of the Revolution and Civil War are fairly comprehensive. His humor is in twisting names and phrases or deliberately misinterpreting words and phrases that have multiple meaning after giving a fairly serious account or series of facts. For this reason, this is a light way to cover the events he covers.

Ultimately, this is a short amusing while largely accurate account of various events that are generally familiar. He is less than politically correct by 21st century standards, but given the period in which he wrote, his view is surprisingly fresh. I did not find him offensive though I cocked my head at some of his word choices. Nye is a prisoner of his age. Still, an amusing read.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

So should of read the reviews and not have just selected it. Its NOT BILL NYE the science guy. Listening to the audio book is a female voice so i cant even pretend its Bill reading it which might of made it fun regardless. I don't like history know it exist but im out of school so i dont have an interest in learning about it or remember much of it from what i learned in school. So this book was in interesting listen to facts that i wouldnt have known but its not as comic as i would have liked.

[Jeff M Millett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting snapshot of 1880’s American popular thought. Humorous, surprisingly modern language, but savagely racist, as I suspect were most Americans then as now. I was able to appreciate much of the books humor. I valued the perspective on what history seemed important then. I also appreciated the look at the unveiled racism. That too is who we were and are as Americans.

[Stuart Mercer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to read for me, mostly because it's so different than the history we were taught in school.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mcZP...

[Don Voorhees · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book. The author was NOT the Science Guy.

[Dayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decidedly not funny.

[Stuart Lutzenhiser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading this because I thought it was a history of the US by Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Only to find out that there was a comic writer of some hundred years ago or more also named Bill Nye (not the Science Guy). I kept reading it because it was a populist history of the US and I thought it would be interesting to see if there were many differences I could tell in how historical events (up to 1895 or so) had been perceived then vs. now. Obviously, many differences but what I found the most interesting (in a disturbing way) was to be reminded how ok it was in 1900 to be very overtly racist. The writing was racist enough, but the illustrations were over the top racist. Amazing to see how far we've come (although still a long way to go) - but just staggering what passed for ok in 1900.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with another reviewer who said it may need to be read more than once, and you should have a good basic knowledge of American history.
In spite of the politically incorrect and downright racist comments, I did rather enjoy his sense of humor and I occasionally found myself looking up incidents that he mentioned. The version I read did not have any illustrations, which I imagine would not be acceptable in today's world of polical correctness.

[Narr · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny right up until he gets to the Civil War. Then it becomes an almost serious, if casual retelling of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and immigrant & race relations (he doesn't want to relate).

By the way, I read the 1906 edition as a free Google Ebook.

[R.]

Ugh. I know this was meant to be somewhat humorous but I didn't find it funny at all. It was pretty lame. I couldn't get through it. I won't rate it because of that. I would NOT recommend it though.

[Clarissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can understand how this may have been funny back when it was released. It's very tongue in cheek. To read it in today's society, you definitely have to ignore a lot of the allowed racial comments from the time. He completely lost my interest in the droning on of the the Civil War.

[Mckinley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really not that funny anymore - was written in a different time.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly done..

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my style of comedy

I'm sure it was a lot of fun to write. I did not enjoy reading it. I like Bill Nye's sense of humor in general, but not this book.

[JoAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that funny.

[Steve Samples · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok at times and sometimes really funny and insightful.