Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States

If you’ve forgotten your 6th grade history classes, this is a must read! It’s very, very funny

I actually read this book for the first time right after it came out. I read it again last year and it still made me laugh so hard my sides hurt. I decided to write this review now because tomorrow is October 8th. If you've read this book you'll recognize the significance of this date. If you don't know the significance, read the book. Is it silly at times? Yes but everybody needs a little silly in their life from time to time. I was really surprised to see that some of the one and two star reviewers were disappointed that this was not a serious book Look at the cover! Does that look like it belongs on a serious book to you? It is a little dated now and a lot of things have changed since it was first written but, if you want a book that doesn't preach politics, makes you laugh, and makes you rethink all of those history classes you struggled through in high school, this is the book for you. It's a great way to pass some time and forget your problems. It's also a very funny book.

This book made me laugh out loud too many times to count. It also makes me sad that such poignant humor could be so effective without negativity. Realizing that makes me sad for the world today. This is feel good humor from a time long gone by.

Dave Barry is irresistibly funny, especially when attacking America's most sacred institutions that no one has dared to mock before, such as Washington DC, fat people who watch NASCAR, and spam. Once again, Dave Barry courageously forges new territory in pointing out that US History textbooks teach kids nothing useful and put them all to sleep. So Dave Barry has decided to make history fun, interesting, and memorable by making it all up. What's most important is that he does the nation a tremendous service by pointing out on every second page that "women and minorities have made a profound and significant contribution to the development of the nation while being enslaved and forced to wear corsets (the minorities, not the women)." This is exactly the sort of political correctness that our shallow and useless youth need, and the author has selflessly done so in order to make sure that public schools will spend millions buying this book and force their students to memorize it. Thank goodness for American public education!

You know the family reunions outside in the local park? Where everyone brings their own folding chairs and vie for position under the park pavilion made of thousand-year-old trees dating back to the Jurassic period? Uncle Harry places his chair at the end of the picnic tables set up for the buffet line in anticipation of entertaining family members with quips and personal insight stories while everyone waits to glob warm potato salad and cold beans. You're forced to laugh at some jokes that you're struggling to find funny. But you love your uncle so you laugh out loud and say something like, "Oh! Uncle Harry. You're hilarious! I don't know how Aunt Gloria gets through the day with you around cutting up!" I couldn't finish the book, I tried. Hard. Because I like Uncle Barry.

Dave Barry's "Dave Barry Slept Here" is a hilarious pseudo/satire-history of the United States. Anyone familiar with Dave Barry's wit from his columns will immediately recognize the same wit unleashed on so much of our history that we have heard, if not necessarily really learned, throughout our lives.Dave Barry writes like a high-school student - intentionally, of course. He attributes great advances to "technology," isn't interested in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff so he skips it because it sounds boring, and decides that every important event in American history happened on October 8th so that he doesn't have to remember any more dates (even the Fourth of July happened on October 8th, 1776). And he ends every chapter with hilarious "discussion questions" that are just as funny as the text.I've read and re-read this hilarious book, and it's great to just pick up and start reading in the middle whenever you need a good chuckle. Anyone who likes Dave Barry, enjoys American history, or is interested in what three-word sentence you can rearrange the letters in "Spiro Agnew" to spell (hint: the first word is "grow") should read this book and enjoy!

Dave Barry has taken a look at American History and tried to clear the waters of was that muddied the waters. Well whatever this is a funny look at American History that is well worth the read. This book put me in mind of the book, The Rise and Fall of Practically Everybody. So for a irreverent look at American this a book to start with.

As someone with a history degree this is a funny rendition of US history. My history teacher in middle school read this to us to make it fun. Had to read for myself, many years later.

I am a fan of Dave Barry's quirky, humorous writing, but I gave up on this one early on. For me, the humour was too facile and forced. His usual witty insights were largely absent. I couldn't finish reading it, so maybe it improved, but I wasn't prepared to invest the time to find out. If you are not familiar with Dave Barry, don't read this book first.

As a history professor, I have read my share of boring, old books trying to tell me why, where and when history took place. --- Dave Barry, on the other hand, does not need piles of dates and places (... since nobody can remember that stuff anyway). I can only recommend this wonderful way of "learning" everything you'll ever need to know about U.S. history. The author (in his very own hilarious way) teaches us the naked truth about how it all started: On October 13, 1492 - with a ship full of procrastinating (puking) Puritan pilgrims ...! Such a wonderfully written book is a really rare thing in the history of mankind.

If Dave Barry's books can't make you laugh, there is something wrong with you.

Quite funny, but to get the jokes you need to know the facts.

Really funny, I was amazed at how an author could cleverly, consistently keep up the humour throughout the entire book. Really cleverly written