Malcontents
It's no surprise that, as he claims in his thoughtful and witty  introduction, humorist Queenan (Balsamic Dreams) relished the  opportunity to pore over and select the hilarious and sometimes  disturbing works in this anthology. As he points out, "One of  the great pleasures in reading books that are hundreds and even  thousands of years old is in discovering how little the targets  of the satirist have changed over the centuries." The buffoonery  and sometimes depravity of such targets are on full display in  this volume, which features 30 works by 19 authors and includes  such classics as "A Modest Proposal," Candide, and shorter  pieces by Mark Twain and Flann O'Brien. Gargantua and Pantagruel  and Don Quixote rollick through brief selections as well.  Queenan makes a good case for the less obvious choices rounding  out the collection, notably Machiavelli's The Prince and de  Sade's Justine, but he fails to link the ancient with the  contemporary: the last half-century of bitter and cynical  writing goes disappointingly ignored. And yet, though heavily  weighted toward "classic satire," this anthology is likely the  best of its kind to date. Recommended for all  libraries.Christopher Tinney, Brooklyn, NYCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.