Dave Barry Slept Here

DAVE Barry was described in The New York Times Book Review as “the funniest man in America,” a claim he has been quick to disavow, except for the plaque on the front door. Nevertheless, the reviewer got there late: The Pulitzer Prize Committee had cited him for commentary earlier in 1988, and he got off with an appropriately light sentence (Even earlier, in 1986, he won the Distinguished Writing Award of the American Association of Newspaper Editors, but what do they know?). Apart from these facts—which, as Mr. Barry occasionally Puts it—we are not making up, the relevant details seem to be that he writes for The Miami Herald and is syndicated in approximately 150 other newspapers, several of which make money despite this. Barry lives with his wife, Beth, and son, Robby, in a Coral Gables, Florida, house surrounded by giant mutant spiders. “Brilliant ... Barry not only changes the face of American history, he practically has to be restrained from taking up hammer and chisel to change the faces on Mount Rushmore as well.”—Associated Press “If you like to have fun with American history, here’s your chance. Dave Barry Slept Here is a zany, delightful twisting of just about everything important in America’s past.”—St. Louis Post Dispatch “A delight from the top of his introduction to the tip of his last outrageous footnote.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “Impressive ... Genuinely fresh insight ... Dave Barry Slept Here might be the rallying point for reformers determined to restore rigor and bite to the public school curriculum.”—Greensboro News and Record “I wish I would have taken Dave Barry’s history class in high school instead of the one I did. Instead of getting in trouble for writing all over the desk, I would have been excused for an upset stomach from laughing so hard. And I would still be laughing now, years later.”—Grand Rapids Press “All the history you’ll ever need to know.”—Tampa Tribune-Times This Guy Has Also Written Dave Barry Turns 40 Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits Homes and Other Black Holes Bad Habits The Taming of the Screw Stay Fit and Healthy Until You’re Dead Claw Your Way to the Top Dave Barry’s Guide to Marriage and/or Sex Babies and Other Hazards of Sex