Satire
Cynthia's Revels
"Cynthia's Revels," the second "comical satire," was acted in 1600, and, as a play, is even more lengthy, elaborate, and…
Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside
Please note: this recording contains strong language."1601," wrote Mark Twain, "is a supposititious conversation which takes …
Mary Broome
Before Downton Abbey, there was Mary Broome. In Allan Monkhouse's 1911 satire, when the son of a middle-class household gets their housemaid…
Bill Nye and Boomerang
Humorist Bill Nye was the first editor of the daily paper in Laramie, Wyoming, and named it the Laramie Boomerang in honor of his mule. As …
A Traveller from Altruria
Set in the early 1890s, at a fashionable summer resort somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, this book tells the story of Mr. T…
Are Women People?
A collection of poetry and some other short works by suffragist Alice Duer MIller. Many of these satirical works were first published in the…
Nature and Art
This is a novel by the author of the play Lover's Vows which was mentioned in Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. William and Henry come to Londo…
Cinderella
If you are expecting glass slippers and pumpkin coaches, look elsewhere... This is "a pantomime as Ibsen would have written it, if only…
A Treatise of Religion
Part diatribe, part discourse, part sermon and part stand-up comedy, this is Fulke Greville's 114 stanza, verse-poem about religious hypocri…
The History of Pompey the Little
"Pompey, the son of Julio and Phyllis, was born A.D. 1735, at Bologna in Italy, a place famous for lap-dogs and sausages." At an e…
Peg O' My Heart
The Chichester family have just gone bankrupt due to bank failure. Their situation looks gloomy until Mrs. Chichester learns of the death of…
Mrs. Pretty and The Premier
The Premier has decided that being married would be good for his image. He asks his stenographer for advice: (Premier) Good. Just jot me dow…
The Fiend's Delight
This book, the fiend’s delight, was published in 1873, during the lifetime of author Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914, pseudonym Dod Grile.It is a …
The World of Fashion
This Victorian-era dramedy was adapted by playwright/critic John Oxenford from Eugene Scribe and Ernst Legouvé’s “Les doigts de f&eac…
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang
"Captain Billy's Whiz Bang" was an iconic magazine of wit and humor launched by W.H. Fawcett in 1919. Each 64-page issue was packe…
Candida
This play tells the story of Candida, the wife of a famous clergyman, the Reverend James Mavor Morell. Morell is a Christian Socialist, po…
Prejudices
Mencken is famous for his sometimes-savage attacks on almost everything humans can in their stupidity and priggishness and prejudice conjure…
Mother Earth
Mother Earth, an American anarchist journal, was self styled as "A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature". Mot…
The Magnificent Lovers
"The King [Louis XIV], who will have nothing but what is magnificent in all he undertakes, wished to give his court an entertainment wh…
The Princess Pourquoi
Once upon a time, a princess was born, and a fairy cursed her with a mind: "She is a woman-child, and yet she shall think. She shall be…