Jokes and Targets

Jokes and Targets takes up an appealing and entertaining topic -- thesocial and historical origins of jokes about familiar targets such as rustics, Jewish spouses, used car salesmen, and dumb blondes. Christie Davies explains whypolitical jokes flourished in the Soviet Union, why Europeans tell jokes aboutAmerican lawyers but not about their own lawyers, and why sex jokes often refer toFrance rather than to other countries. One of the world's leading experts on thestudy of humor, Davies provides a wide-ranging and detailed study of the jokes thatmake up an important part of everyday conversation.