Mass Historia: 365 Days of Historical Facts and (Mostly) Fictions

by Chris Regan

You can't change the past, but with Mass Historia, Chris Regan has done a very fine job of making fun of it." --Stephen Colbert

The History Channel meets Comedy Central in this sidesplitting, quasi-historical almanac by Chris Regan, a five time Emmy award winning comedy writer and one of the coauthors of Jon Stewart's bestselling America (The Book) .

Regan flips through our nation's historical calendar to offer up unknown, unrepentant, and often-unbelievable facts for every day of the year. Based on genuine, historical occurrences, Regan sets out to rewrite history with his unique satirical voice.

As Regan explains, "Enjoy this book, learn something from it, but do not reference it in any scholarly paper." Consider entries like June 12th, 1991: "Russians elect Boris Yeltsin president. Yeltsin suggests a toast to Democracy, wakes up shoeless on a bus eight years later." Or Regan's entry for May 15th, 1718: "A London Lawyer named James Puckle patents the world's first machine gun, because lawyering was not doing enough to crush the soul of mankind." The reader will also learn about the November 11th, 1918 birth of "Armistice Day, which was later changed to Veterans' Day, so that Americans could more easily pronounce what they annually ignored."

Full-color photographs, along with amusing sidebars, lists, and mock historical images aid in providing definitive answers to historical curiosities such as, "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" or the similarities between music moguls Kevin Federline and Johann Sebastian Bach. Readers will even discover that Alexander G. Bell's famous cry of, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you," during the first telephone conversation was, in fact, the invention of the Booty Call.

Genres: Humor, History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Chris Regan is a comedy writer who wrote for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" for seven seasons, winning five Emmys and two Peabody Awards. He was one of the coauthors of the best-selling "America (The Book)" and his work has appeared in USA Today, The New Yorker, and New York magazine. He has also written for Comedy Central's "The Burn with Jeff Ross" and "The Jeselnik Offensive" with Anthony Jeselnik.

His books include the 2008 humor book, "Mass Historia: 365 Days of Historical Facts and (Mostly) Fictions," published by Andrews McMeel.

He was also the co-author of "Shatner Rules" with William Shatner, released in 2011.

"You can't change the past, but with Mass Historia, Chris Regan has done a very fine job of making fun of it."--Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report

"For my money, Chris Regan is America's finest craftsman of funny sentences, sentences which start off interesting and amusing, coax laughs with pitch-perfect, snarky descriptors along the way, and then suddenly SLAM you with the unexpected, truly hilarious punch." --Adam Felber, author of Schrodinger's Ball and writer, Real Time with Bill Maher

"Anybody can make history. Only one man can write it. And only a greatly funny man like Chris Regan can make it worth reading. Sorry, Thucydides, but you can suck it!"--Mo Rocca, commentator, CBS Sunday Morning and NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me

"'Mass Historia" is one-eleventh the length of Will and Ariel Durant's 'The Story of Civilization' with six times as many laughs. Maybe even seven times as many! There is no one I know who understands the weave and weft of that grand tapestry called history like Chris Regan does. That said, I'm really glad he wasted all that knowledge on this book, because it's hilarious."--Eric Drysdale, five-time Emmy Award-winning writer, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report

"Hilarious! Chris Regan is one of the smartest, funniest writers around, and 'Mass Historia' is almost big enough to hold everything inside that giant brain of his. Buy this book, read it, laugh your ass off, then take it back to your old high school and use it to smack your history teacher across the jaw."--Bob Powers, author of You Are A Miserable Excuse for a Hero and Happy Cruelty Day!

"Shatner Rules is a light, clever, witty book that is all about enjoying life from the perspective of a now eighty-year-old man with fascinating stories to tell… this is a great read.”—Portland Book Review

“The galaxy's most famous starship captain offers a mostly tongue-in-cheek guide to his rules for living, complete with anecdotes and life lessons. Eighty years old and still going strong with multiple TV shows, films, books and appearances…Shatner's lust for life shines through… Whatever the situation--be it an awkward dinner with Charlton Heston or a fight to the death with a wild boar—Shatner applies his rules as only he can…[his] fans will relish the opportunity to learn from the master.”—Kirkus Reviews

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

If MyOtherBoyfriend, Steven Colbert, can give his ���thumbs up��� to this work, then who am I to argue? Okay��_ let���s be serious, I am one who argues��_ a lot. So here it goes: I did love this book, and like the other reviewers, I laughed out loud and mightily at the jabs poked toward some serious historical moments. Yet, when I tried to share my amusement with my 14 year old son - who also enjoys a caustic wit and is a comprehensive thinker in his own right - I realized that what made this work so damn funny to me also made it boring as hell to him. That was a bummer! Most of the humor is specifically targeted at my age bracket and I felt, in describing the hilarity to my son over breakfast, I also needed to rely on VH1���s decade specials ���I love the��_��� to aid his forced-guffaws and rolling of the eyes response. And while I may be dealing with the throes of teenage angst and displacement developmental stages of my teenaged son, I was supported in my theory when I realized that I was not misplacing my copy of the text while trying to finish reading it, the book was being absconded by my husband who was also as tickled as I. This is fun read with only a few slights against Oprah and Emma Goldman��_ oh, and Sylvia Plath which might reveal, to a savvy women���s studies major, that maybe Regan is a touch on the misogynist side of life, but not so far as to be totally offensive ; ) Overall, this is an awesome addition to our excremeditating��� library - and our guest bathroom has some of the finest: Mommy Laid an Egg; The Day My Butt Exploded; the Life 101 series; and How to Get Along With Your Parents Without Losing Your Mind ��� I think that for the most part, it will be our friends and houseguests who appreciate the effort much more than my kids and their friends. And I suppose that���s what GenX lit is all about: short-attention-span theater and self-absorbed humor. I can only say, ���well done, Chris Regan, Well Done!���

[Schnaucl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was very funny, and while some of the jokes were pretty low brow and repetitive (fewer President Taft was fat jokes would have been better), some of the jokes were actually quite witty. I can easily believe that Regan wrote for The Daily Show and America the Book.

Unless he was putting events on random days (which I don't think he was), it was pretty easy to tell what was factual and what part was fiction.

This was a very fun read.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me awhile to get through this, but I enjoyed it. Hilarious and interesting.

[Chris]

Why not?

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you enjoy laughing at the pain and misery of others (and who doesn’t) this book is for you. "Mass Historia" is a pretty funny look at the past. There are a number of interesting facts hidden inside the humor so if you’re not careful you might learn something before you’re done. Written by one of the writers of the Daily Show’s "America (The Book)" and contains the same type of humor. [return][return]The book gives one or more historical events for every day of the year. In addition to the historical event there is a humorous made-up event or a humorous comment about the actual event. Some of the humor is laugh out loud funny, some is mildly amusing, and some I didn't really find all that funny. Occasionally a joke gets overplayed, like President Taft's large stature.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot and found it very funny. It contained a wide range of interesting historical 'facts' from pretty much every time period and country. It was also pretty great visually- colorful and packed with pictures. Though, there were a crazy amount of jokes about President Taft- perhaps the author is older then he claims and has some sort of grudge against the guy? I can't think of another reason for Taft to be mentioned that often- unless Regan just reeaallllly loves a good fat joke. There are tons of overweight historical figures to choose from, so maybe next time he'll diversify. (That's a backhanded way of suggesting he write more books)

[Ayush51 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious book