Author Works: Alexandra Petri - US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up)

The Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri

“Petri’s writing is consistently witty and erudite without the slightest hint of pretentiousness… If you can make the 19th-century debate over monetary policy funny, you’re clearly on to something.”—Matthew Cantor, The Guardian

“Brilliantly bananas…. Petri’s latest book demonstrates primarily two things: One, she is a genius; and two, no, she really is…. Satire at the highest level. …[A] godsend of a book.”—Amy Fusselman, The Washington Post

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If you’re going to lie about the past, you might as well make up lies that are fun!

Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri is perhaps America’s most beloved political satirist. Her new, side-splitting work of historical humor uses imagined documents to create a laugh-out-loud, irreverent takedown of our nation’s complicated past. “From Aaron Sorkin’s version of the Gettysburg Address (‘Walk with me over this battlefield, Stacy’) to John and Abigail Adams’s frustrated attempt at sexting via transatlantic letter (‘I am removing my thick woolen greatcoat of sound construction’) Petri leaves few milestones of U.S. culture and politics un-lampooned,” notes Publishers Weekly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandra Petri is a humorist and columnist for the Washington Post and author of Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, a Thurber Prize finalist. Her satire has also appeared in McSweeney’s and the New Yorker’s Daily Shouts and Murmurs. She lives in Washington, DC.

Education: Harvard College, BA in English, Classics Secondary Field

Honors and Awards: National Press Club Angele Gingras Award for Humor Writing 2016, Shorty Award 2016, Forbes 30 Under 30, Fifty Funniest People Right Now (Rolling Stone)

This class is part of our Summer Reading Adventures series! Visit hclibrary.org/summer to learn more!