Au XVIIIe siècle, suivez les pas d'El Abderi à travers le désert entre Tripoli et l'Égypte. Ce récit de voyage, extrait de la célèbre Er Rih'la El Mar'ribia.

Grâce à son décalage humoristique, Mes quatre semaines en France offre un témoignage original sur la Grande Guerre, riche d'informations qui restituent l'atmosphère de l'arrière sans avoir l'air d'y toucher. En janvier 1917, l'Allemagne annonce son intention de mener une " guerre sous-marine totale " : la sécurité de leurs navires étant menacée, les États-Unis rejoignent le camp des Alliés en avril. Il leur faut des mois pour rassembler des trou-pes, les expédier outre-Atlantique et les préparer à un type de guerre auquel elles n'ont jamais été confrontées. C'est dans ce contexte que le magazine Collier's propose à l'écrivain-journaliste Ring Lardner de se rendre en France pour couvrir l'événement. Grâce à son décalage humoristique, Mes quatre semaine en France offre un témoignage original sur la Grande Guerre. Dès la traversée de l'Atlantique, l'importance accordée aux consignes de sécurité et la peur du torpillage nous rappellent le rôle joué par les sous-marins allemands dans l'entrée en guerre des États-Unis. Lardner nous décrit le débarquement à Bordeaux, le séjour à Londres, les conversations badines sur l'éventualité de la fin du conflit, le chaos de la circulation dans Paris, les problèmes de ravitaillement, la difficulté de contourner les bureaucraties civiles et militaires, l'entraînement des soldats américains dans l'Aisne (mais aussi des Maoris néo-zélandais qui exécutent un " haka " avant de simuler l'assaut d'une tranchée), les permissions des combattants, les spectacles de l'époque... Mes quatre semaines en France est riche d'informations qui restituent l'atmosphère de l'arrière sans avoir l'air d'y toucher.

This beautifully illustrated volume brings together the finest works of Ring Lardner, one of America's most distinctive literary voices of the early 20th century. Known for his sharp wit, ear for dialogue, and keen sense of irony, Lardner masterfully captured the quirks of American life through sports, relationships, and social satire. The collection features You Know Me, Al, a groundbreaking series of fictional letters from a naive baseball player that brilliantly parody fame, ambition, and the American dream. Alibi Ike and Some Like Them Cold further showcase Lardner's talent for humor, absurdity, and revealing character through speech and situation. In Gullible's Travels and other short pieces, Lardner turns his eye toward broader social themes, often exposing the pretensions and hypocrisies of middle-class America with a light touch and biting wit. His stories are as entertaining as they are insightful. A must-have for fans of American humor, baseball writing, or classic short fiction, this collection celebrates Lardner's unique legacy as a satirist and storyteller. Contents: You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters Home Call for Mr. Keefe! Along Came Ruth Alibi Ike Gullible's Travels Champion The Facts Harmony My Roomy The Young Immigrunts The Big Town Some Like Them Cold

First published in 1929, public domain. Lardner, American humorist and short-story writer, is known for his mordant wit, exemplified in satirical stories and sketches of American life in the early 20th century told in the language of athletes, stockbrokers, secretaries, chorus girls, etc. This is a compilation of almost all of his best stories.

Humorous stories of social climbing in America's "classless" society.

"Big, fat, dumb, lazy, vain, headstrong and cheap, Jack Keefe is a journeyman pitcher with the Chicago White Sox in the rowdy days of the Deadball Era, circa 1915, ruled by the likes of Ty Cobb and John McGraw. In You Know Me Al, we follow Jack Keefe's life on-field and off, via the letters Jack writes to his old chum Al in his home town of Bedford, Indiana.Ring Lardner was a Chicago sportswriter who covered the White Sox, and he brought an insider's knowledge of clubhouse life together with his biting wit and gift for the vernacular to create a comic gem in You Know Me Al. The six Jack Keefe stories that compose this volume were originally written as individual magazine articles, but the epistolary format made it easy to collect them into a single running narrative covering Jack's first two years in the Big Leagues.It isn't necessary to know baseball history to enjoy the book, which is as much about Jack's troubles with girlfriends, wives and babies as it is about the Chicago White Sox. For the baseball fan, however, this glimpse into a bygone era adds an extra layer of fascination. In any case, Lardner's portrait of the professional ballplayer as a dumb, drunken narcissist is as funny today as the day it was written. (Summary by Rick Rodstrom) Dedicated prooflisteners: Rob Kunkel & Juli Carter"