FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Stephen Kercher's evocative survey of postwar political satire is almost encyclopedic in its range and impeccable for its clear writing and sound scholarship. Many still think of the 1950s as an era of monolithic conformity, yet this irresistible vein of black humor, from Sid Caesar to Lenny Bruce, offered a tremendous outlet for wildly inventive parody and social criticism. This book should delight those who remember the period and enlarge the understanding of those who don't.”
Morris Dickstein

Revel with a Cause

Liberal Satire in Postwar America

Stephen E. Kercher

Comedian Stephen Colbert's notorious performance before the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this past April was a media sensation. Some pundits accused him of crossing a line while jubilant liberals hailed him as a hero. With his scathing mockery of the most powerful man in the world, sitting just a few feet to his right, Colbert tapped into the rich history of confrontational satire—comedy that declares war on the hypocrisy and complacency of the powerful.

Colbert's audacious routine represents a flashpoint in the recent reemergence of liberal satire. Just as this rebirth gathers steam, Stephen E. Kercher gives us the back story in Revel with a Cause, the first comprehensive history of the satiric humor that flourished during the postwar era—an era that greatly resembles our own politically conservative times. Much like the War on Terror, the Cold War and the fears and anxieties it inspired were used to justify a crackdown on political dissent under the guise of patriotism. But, as Kercher here shows, an impressive range of creative humorists—from incisive cartoonists like Walt Kelly to outrageous rebels like Lenny Bruce—responded with defiant wit. These nonconformists were a crucial voice of criticism and dissent, attacking the suppression of civil liberties, Cold War foreign policy, a seething racial crisis, and stifling social conformity.

Kercher's sweeping history also buries the era's false reputation as a deeply unfunny cultural wasteland. Taking in the surprising variety of comedic expression that erupted in the bleakness of those repressive times, including MAD magazine, Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, and the improvisational theater of Second City, Revel with a Cause is a captivating look at some of the most influential comedy of the twentieth century. It will be indispensable to anyone fascinated by the intersection of popular culture and politics—or anyone who simply wants to relish some great American humor.

Stephen E. Kercher is professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh.

 

Stephen E. Kercher is available for interviews. For more information please contact Mark Heineke
at (773) 702-3714
mah@press.uchicago.edu