Publisher's Synopsis
For more than fifty years, from 1949 to 2006, Art Buchwald's Pulitzer Prize-winning column of political satire and biting wit made him one of the most widely read American humourists and a popular player in the Washington of Ethel and Ted Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, and Katharine Graham. Dean Acheson, former U.S. Secretary of State, called Buchwald the "greatest satirist in the English language since Pope and Swift." But there was another, more serious side to Art Buchwald. A childhood spent in a number of foster homes taught him to see comedy as a refuge. Buchwald also struggled with depression, a secret he kept from the public for nearly thirty years. Drawing on Buchwald's unpublished lifelong correspondence with other famous personas, Funny Business shows how Art Buchwald became an American original. Like Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and James Thurber, he satirized political scoundrels, lampooned the powerful and the pompous, and "worshipped the quicksand" that ten different Presidents of the United States walked on, as Buchwald said. The key to Buchwald's style of humour was to "treat light subjects seriously and serious subjects lightly," he once said. This revealing book is studded with stories of Buchwald's charming exchanges with Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Ted Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, John Steinbeck, Irwin Shaw, William Styron, and Erma Bombeck. His fun-loving humour and legendary quips earned him interviews and correspondence with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, "Batman" (Adam West), and Robert Frost. During his long career Buchwald wrote about such historical events as the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, Watergate, and the 9/11 terrorist attack. Featured here are stories of Buchwald's non-stop political jabs and one-liners, known in his day as "Buchshots." Through this book, Buchwald's brilliant gift for humour and satire will once again bring readers a comedic respite from the troublesome times in which we live.
