Clever, but ultimately tiresome. The authors' snarky inserted remarks quickly create the appearance of mainly serving the purpose of increasing the (short) word count. If something is absurd, the absurdity should be obvious without repetitive auctorial snideness. If the book had half the juvenile commentary and half again the chapters, it would be much more interesting and readable.

For its relatively short length "The United States of Absurdity" manages to compactly pack a lot of hilarity through its coverage of a wide range of equally-ridiculous historical events, figures, and trends.

Many fans of The Dollop, will be able to enjoy this as a great "best-of-the-best" compilation of some of the most absurd topics covered over the years by Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds. Meanwhile, newcomers will be able to receive a great introduction to the plentiful bits of utter insanity that pepper American history just beneath the surface of the broad narratives they received from their school textbooks. In short, both those who look forward to each new episode of The Dollop and those who have never heard of the unique podcast that led to this book until now will both easily be able to find something to delight in.

The creators of the humorous historic podcast "The Dollop" have assembled some of the weirdest and most outrageous stories from American history, each accompanied by timelines and tidbits that help the reader put the story into perspective, or so they hope.

I have never listened to the aforementioned podcast, and if this book is any indication of the authors' definition of "humor," I won't bother searching for it. Although the description says that the stories included here are outlandish, it also describes them as being hilarious, so I expected to laugh out loud several times while reading this book. Unfortunately, I rolled my eyes many more times than I laughed, and although I chuckled a time or two, I didn't laugh out loud even once. The timelines and trivia interspersed with the stories were at least a little entertaining and informative, but otherwise, the best I can say about this book is that it's short, and I'm now able to cross it off my list and move on to something else.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ten Speed Press for the opportunity to read and review The United States of Absurdity: Untold Stories from American History! This book is separated into six different sections: Great American Characters, The Best of American Sports, Great American Medical Breakthroughs, Very Bad American Ideas, When Americans Go Wrong and American Tails. Also included is a conclusion and an index. Disturbingly funny and morbidly fascinating, this interesting book grossed me out, made me laugh out loud and gave me the heebie jeebies! 4 stars for this nonfiction book with an adult sense of humor and content!

As a devoted listener to the Dollop podcast, I must admit I was a little disappointed with the book. That comes with the caveat though that being such a big fan was almost a detriment, because all the chapters were topics they'd already covered over the last couple years. I'd been hoping it would be new content, but that wasn't the case.
A large part of The Dollop's appeal is the banter between Dave and Gareth, how they crack each other up, and Gareth's quick wit even while being appalled by whatever Dave might be telling him. By its very nature, that's hard to replicate on the written page; however, they do manage to keep the stories funny even though some of them are about some...not great people in American history.
What I would do, then, is offer this book to those who are not as familiar with the podcast, to give them a feel for Dave and Gareth's humor. It's a quick, funny read, especially if the stories are brand new to you.
My thanks to NetGalley for this advance copy; I'll be putting this review on Amazon as well once reviews can be posted.

I really got a hoot from reading these stories! Absurd? Yeah, also cringe worthy, ridiculous and laugh out loud funny. Some of the humor was dry, or punny, and often sarcastic. That's just the way I like it. Also, I did like the thought of Andrew Jackson spending 4 years in the Whitehouse and the place reeking of cheese! Great true stories, and if these two authors put out another book, then I'm sure I'll be reading it. Yep, I'd recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this.

This was a fun book on lesser known stories from American history. Some were weird while others were just bizarre. I really didn't understand the humor aspect and would of enjoy it more without some of the added humor choices.

One of my reading goals for 2017 was to read more non-fiction and unusual, historical and unique non-fiction are my preferred genres so when I noticed this non-fiction on Netgalley I had to request it immediately and I'm SO glad I did as this non-fiction read was very quick and enjoyable, unusual and eye opening read...sometimes in a disturbing way.

The book features unusual people and events during Americas unique *I think it's safe to say that* history and I found it thoroughly fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. There were a couple of people and stories that I already knew of but most were new and delightfully OMG and 'what the hell' that I had to tell the nearest person, albeit omitting the swearing. The only section I wasn't as interested in was the sports section as I have no interest in reading about anything to do with sport but the rest was so entertaining. If you like dark, sarcastic humour and tales of amazement, uniqueness, freak shows and yes, a lot of absurdity then this is for you! However, if you're squeamish or are uncomfortable with the dead bodies, vampires, mistreatment of humans and animals and all round grossness then...read it anyway!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this, but really enjoyed the human touch in all these tales from the colourful history of the USA. A couple of the stories sounded familiar but most were new to me and all were told in gloriously gleeful detail and very easy to read. As this book originated from a podcast, I did find the style a little jarring at times - what may work verbally doesn't always come across as smoothly on the printed page. I don't mind swearing in a book but it happened in fits and starts which also made it sound forced at times.

Overall this was an entertaining, easy read - perfect for my commute on the train. I'd definitely buy it as a gift for someone with an interest in the slightly crazier side of history.

Crazy, hilarious, utterly enthralling look into the funniest and most absurd moments of US history, which will give everyone a much needed light-hearted read.

This book gives you the tidbits of interesting, unknown history that you can expect from a quirky podcast that becomes a book. It seems to be a little too obsessed with murder and death but very readable. I would have rather read something in the vein of the podcast "Hardcore History." This is not hardcore.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in a single sitting on my kindle when my power went out one day (yay thunderstorms...).

Essentially, this is a book of short, ridiculous, stories from America's history. The kind that end up in newspapers rather than history books, usually used as footnotes brought back to spotlight. As a Florida resident, born and raised, I have an inordinate fondness for stories of people doing stupid s**t.

Some stories feel a bit flat with me, particularly the sports ones, as I have little interest. Some were stories I already knew, some felt too short and hastily written. But for the most part, they were enjoyable and entertaining, especially to kill time. I particularly loved the chapter of medical stories, even though I knew most if them.

In all, if you like these sorts of "look how badly we f****d up" stories, or want something to make you laugh and teach you some random facts, you'll like this, especially if you're a fan of the Darwin Awards.

This book had potential with having unique stories (even though some of the I already knew about). But the reason I gave it only one star is it was written in such an overly dramatic way it annoyed me a lot. I am not a fan overly dramatic writing to make history more interesting. So on that note I can't recommend it.

An amazing book that surpassed any of my expectations. I would recommend it to all my friends, American or other. At the end of each of the short chapters depicting the stupidity comes some more fun facts related to the topic. Despite some of these stories seeming very far fetched I was challenged enough to go to research and found the extra research not only confirmed these absurdities but gave a lot more additional information. It has obviously taken a lot of research and as I am sure that all countries have similar stories awaiting research and publication- I hope the author now goes to other countries to reveal similar stories. A great coffee table addition for amusement.