30 Satires

by Lewis H. Lapham

Widely celebrated for his political essays, Lewis Lapham is a satirist who belongs in the company of Ambrose Bierce, H.L. Mencken, and Mark Twain. Over the last twenty years he has experimented with satire in its several forms—as burlesque, pasquinade, invective, and deadpan jest.


This first assemblage of Lapham’s satires presents thirty pieces that hold their currency and humor against the tide of social and political change that has engulfed American society in recent times. He reduces to absurdity many of the topics of the day that are often treated Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is retold to praise the virtues of remorseless greed; the hydrogen bomb is introduced as a solemn dinner guest who doesn’t play tennis or speak English; gene banks take the form of well-trained pigs that accompany their wealthy owners in the first-class cabins of transatlantic jets.

Genres: Essays, Humor, Satire, Journalism, Short Stories

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Lewis Henry Lapham was the editor of Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and again from 1983 until 2006. He is the founder and current editor of Lapham's Quarterly, featuring a wide range of famous authors devoted to a single topic in each issue. Lapham has also written numerous books on politics and current affairs.

Lapham's Quarterly
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of excoriating, dry witted send-ups of American “culture” and politics.

In sum, we are a people in thrall to the miracles of commerce.

[Dwight · Rating 2 out of 5]

While many of the topics and ideas are still prevalent in the current political and social environment, the primary actors are not. It would almost certainly have been funnier and had more relevance had I read it about fifteen or twenty years ago.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although these essays are 30 - 40 years old, all one would have to do to update them is change the names and the dollar amounts. Lapham hated Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. And look where we are. I loved all 30 of them

[Bcoghill Coghill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Delightful but dated. I regret I didn’t read this a decade ago.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and pointed satire, if a bit dated now.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book cover boasts quotes by Kurt Vonnegut, and George Plimpton lavishing praise on Lewis Lapham as the pre-emminent satirist of our day. Frankly, that's what made me buy the book, I hadn't heard of him yet. Now, I'm not as smart as those guys, and you're not going to buy the book, because my quote is on the cover, but go ahead, pick it up.
This is a collection of essays, taken from a twenty year period, so some might feel a little dated. Like really good satire, there is usually some ring of timeless truth.

[Andrew Donaldson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bone dry, withering prose. But very, very funny. And lethally accurate.