Lardner on War

by Ring Lardner, Jeff Silverman (Editor)

As the most famous journalist of the early twentieth century, Ring Lardner's wry skills as an observer and satirical bent as a writer weren't just confined to the sporting arenas of his day. In 1918 he packed his kit bag and his biting wit and headed off to France on assignment for Colliers, to cast a Lardneresque eye on the Great War. At the same time, he created a new wartime series of letters from the pen of his most famous fictional character-Jack Keefe-who had traded in his baseball flannels for military drab. LARDNER ON WAR puts together, for the first time, the two masterpieces from this era-"My Four Weeks in France" and "Treat 'Em Letters from Jack the Kaiser Killer"-to introduce the wit, wisdom, and whimsy of Ring Lardner to a new generation of readers.

Ring Lardner is considered to be one of America's greatest comic geniuses after Mark Twain, and baseball's greatest writer of all time. His writings on baseball are collected in Lardner on Baseball (page 00). He popularized the use of colloquial vernacular in American letters in such classics as You Know Me, Al, and Gullible's Travels. He died in 1933 at the age of forty-eight.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.

Father of author Ring Lardner Jr.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been a very long time since I read You Know Me Al. So some of the content was familiar to me. That said Ring Lardner is a great teller of stories with funny and awkward situations and characters. On the down side when a series of daily or weekly newspaper columns are strung together in a book the impact of the individual pieces can be lost or seriously diminished.

I would shelve this book in a doctor's office or maybe the bathroom. Pick it up and read one or two short episodes. Savor Lardner's talent, it represents an era long past.

[Matthew Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the parts of 'You Know Me Al' when the narrator was in the service. Read it instead