Historical Humor

What if I told you that the biggest heist in history was one that never made the newspapers, was never seen on TV, and has never even been mentioned in any history book? And I’m talking about 40 billion dollars stolen. Sounds pretty unlikely, don’t you think? What if I told you that this robbery was pulled off by a bunch of over-the-hill 70-year-olds: a WW I vet who paid his dues in the trenches of Europe, a small-time crook who paid his in regular installments behind bars, a hotheaded Irishman who thought dues were don’ts, and a giant gorilla who, well, he’s a gorilla.

Cobble is a Neanderthal with itchy feet and the mind of an engineer, unlike anyone else in his old-fashioned tribe. Making Man follows his journey as he leaves the village of Boardom behind, taking him through mountains, underground animal lairs, and into new landscapes. As with all good prehistoric comedies there is a mysterious pendant and a healthy dose of talking insects.

Sergeant Dan Miller wanted to be a flying ace, but the air force grounded him for poor vision. To make matters worse, when the myopic Miller travels home to Minneapolis on furlough, he finds the local “feather merchants” - aka civilians - breaking all the wartime rules. They’re guzzling black-market gas, hoarding rationed food, and listening to suspiciously expensive radios. But the most troubling news of all arrives when Sergeant Dan’s main squeeze, the voluptuous Estherlee McCracken, declares that she wants nothing to do with a pencil-pushing GI.

Welcome the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the year of our lord 1983. The affable Bethie means well, but at times, she can find herself in dire need of sage advice from her typically taciturn yet positively perspicacious best friend, Paige. Paige's advice may not always seem sound to Bethie, but as we tend to discover in this series of tales, Bethie would do well to follow it. Not that she always does. Follow along on the misadventures, misunderstandings, and comical catastrophes that form the day-to-day lives of Bethie and Paige.

The year is 1973, and Alan Eastman, a public intellectual, accidental cultural critic, washed-up war journalist, husband, and philanderer finds himself alone on the floor of his study in an existential crisis. His wife has taken their kids and left him to live with her mother in New Jersey, and his best work feels as though it is years behind him. In the depths of despair, he receives an unexpected and unwelcome phone call from his old rival, offering him the chance to go to Vietnam to write the definitive account of the end of America's longest war.

Undaunted by a threatening storm, Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley insists he must deliver his letter to Miss Elizabeth Bennet - then tragedy strikes. Riddled with guilt, Elizabeth comes to the aid of the comatose Mr. Darcy and stays by his side until he regains consciousness. She soon learns that although Mr. Darcy has awoken, he has not returned to himself. And with no memory of his first disastrous proposal, he has concluded that there is nothing he wants more than to propose to Miss Elizabeth.

Alltid ska det drabba oss, protesterar Porta från förarsätet. Oss fattiga kulier jagar de så det ryker om strumporna. Man är så motbjudande oförskämt rask och sund och alla grannens kulor viker undan för en så man aldrig kommer ifrån det här skitkriget och får vräka sig på lasarett. Och man riskerar att bli ihjälslagen på alla möjliga sätt för en ynka Mark om dagen, fyller Lillebror i. Men en dag, på permission hos vackra Wera, anar Porta plötsligt en möjlighet att välbärgad kunna dra sig ur kriget.

Rachael O'Brien, a girl from the cornfields of Canton, Ohio, returns to college in North Carolina in her old Ford. Before the engine has cooled she finds herself in a passionate lip-lock with the man she's been fantasizing about, making sophomore year seem full of promise.

This is the story of a drug deal gone bad. Having committed the crime of selling a potent poison to a desperate youth, a destitute apothecary must decide how to spend his ill-gained fortune. Resolving to start his career afresh, he flees to the city of Verona to set up a new shop of medicinal healing and alchemical discovery. Plans go awry when he finds himself in the middle of a woeful tragedy he had unwittingly helped to cause.

On the outskirts of a small seaside town, Lia and her friend Anna work serious hours running their restored cafe. The summer season is upon them, they have Anna's wedding to plan, and Lia's ex-boyfriend seems not to understand it's over. When a gorgeous stranger taps on Lia's window near midnight and turns out not to be a serial killer, she feels it's a promising sign. But no one comes without a past, and his arrives in the form of a four-year-old son. Just as Lia decides to give things a try, problems from her own past rear up.

It's downbeat Dublin in the late 1980s. Temple Bar, bedsits, and dole queues. Fred, a loser adrift in the world, and Maggie, a fiercely intelligent and complicated writer, are brought together through circumstances they think they can handle, whereas they are totally out of their depth. In this first part of a planned trilogy, the key ingredients are that the "Butterfly Effect" of two seemingly fringe characters in their society turn out to trigger changes far beyond their plans or wishes.

First published in the UK in May 1919, My Man Jeeves is a compilation of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Of the eight stories in the set, half presents the famous characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, whereas the others concern Reggie Pepper, an early prototype for Wooster.

There have always been Mountain Men. Their names are legendary. Their motives unknown. Until now. Over four centuries, one by one, they changed the course of human history. Occasionally, some of them were even quite good at it. Like most things in life, successful revolutions take a bit of practise. Only they knew their identity and purpose, but someone has discovered their secrets. Now the actions of the Mountain Men are being re-enacted in the 21st century and there’s twelve billion dollars up for grabs for anyone willing to help.

Wszystko wskazuje na to, że oddajemy w Wasze ręce ostatni tom serii komediowej poświęconej perypetiom Marii Kostki z Kostki, czyli ostatniej arystokratki. Zamkowe życie podglądaliśmy przez okrągły rok i wraz z bohaterami tej szalonej opowieści przeżyliśmy wiele zwariowanych przygód. Zadbała o to pani Cicha, nieszczędząca sobie i innym swego orzechowego eliksiru, pan Spock, umilający czas hipochondrycznymi piosenkami, oraz oczywiście Józef, posępny kasztelan, odziany w nieodłączny szlafrok i dzwoniący pękiem kluczy. Czas sprawdzić, jak to wszystko się skończy.

Mary Patterson grew up in South Carolina during the US Great Depression in the early 1900s. She sacrificed for her brothers and sisters her education and her youth. She cared for, tended to, fed, and helped provide for her siblings.

Everyone’s heard of Nostradamus. No one’s heard of Philibert Montmorency. One was a legend. The other, not so much.... A newly discovered Nostradamus prophecy has taken the internet by storm thanks to "The Oblivion Doctrine", a group of online conspiracy theorists. Apparently the end is nigh. And in case anyone’s interested, nigh is definitely a Tuesday. Doctor Ally Oldfield, professor of Medieval Languages, is summoned to Lyon for a second opinion. She’s not happy about it. But then again she’s rarely happy about anything.

Written in a hospital tent to the sound of gunfire and shells falling, Cicely Hamilton drew on her experiences working in France during WW1 to tell the story of William Tully and his new bride Griselda, who are wrenched away from their all-consuming interests – socialism and votes for women – and plunged into the almost dream-like horror of war. As brutal tragedy strikes, their attitude to both pacifism and patriotism is altered and their lives are changed forever.

Ne "I Miserabili" Victor Hugo narra con assoluta sensibilità ed estrema modernità la solitudine dell'uomo, il contrasto tra ceti sociali, ma anche la redenzione attraverso la rivolta e l'amore. Il romanzo, dal ritmo incalzante, magistrale e irripetibile per l'autenticità delle emozioni e per la complessità della trama narrativa, viene qui tradotto ad alta voce da un unico narratore, Moro Silo, che con la sua più che trentennale esperienza di lettore, riesce a cogliere l'enorme quantità di significati presenti nel libro nel massimo rispetto dello stile unico e originale dell'autore, del suo contesto storico-culturale e filologico.

Questa colossale opera fu pubblicata nel 1862. Considerata uno dei romanzi più importanti del XIX secolo, narra la storia di vari personaggi nell’arco di 20 anni, intrecciando la loro vita alle vicende storiche della Parigi post Restaurazione.

During the Vietnam War, GIs who managed to survive their tour of duty in one piece - more or less - were flown home in chartered airliners. They called those planes "Freedom Birds". This is the story of three young men - from wildly different backgrounds - who meet on such a plane and make a pact to spend three days together in San Francisco. Their goal: to spend every cent of their mustering out money in a party of a lifetime.