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Poster for Harvard Book Store presents Alexandra Petri

Harvard Book Store presents Alexandra Petri

Coming on May 11

Run Time: 90 min.

Harvard Book Store Presents:

Alexandra Petri

presenting

Alexandra Petri’s US History:
Important American Documents (I Made Up) 

in conversation with RANDALL MUNROE

Harvard Book Store welcomes ALEXANDRA PETRI—humorist and author of Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why—for a discussion of her new book Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up). She will be joined in conversation by RANDALL MUNROE—author and illustrator of the best-selling What If? series.

A Return to In-Person Events

Harvard Book Store is excited to be back to in-person programming. To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in attendance, the following Covid-19 safety protocols will be in place at all of our Brattle Theatre events until further notice:

  • Face coverings are required of all staff and attendees when inside the venue. Masks must snugly cover nose and mouth. At venues where refreshments are served, attendees may briefly unmask when actively eating or drinki
  • To limit contact, books will be pre-signed by the author and can be purchased on-site at the event, while supplies last.

Ticketing

There are two ticket options available for this event.

Book-Included Ticket: Includes admission for one and one hardcover copy of Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up).

Admission-Only Ticket: Includes admission for one.

About Alexandra Petri’s US History

Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri is perhaps America’s most beloved political satirist. Her new, side-splitting work of historical humor uses imagined documents to create a laugh-out-loud, irreverent takedown of our nation’s complicated past.

From the Spanish conquistadors to the Salem witch trials, from Paul Revere’s ride to the exclamation mark in Oklahoma!, Alexandra Petri’s U.S. History presents a deranged timeline in which John and Abigail Adams try sexting, the March sisters from Little Women are sixty feet tall, Nicola Tesla’s friends stage an intervention when he falls in love with a pigeon, and Susan Sontag goes to summer camp. A witty, absurdist satire of the last 500 years, Petri’s “historical fan fiction” shows why she has been hailed as “genius,”* a “national treasure,”** and “one of the funniest writers alive.”***

*Olivia Nuzzi, Katha Pollitt

**Julia Ioffe, Katy Tur, John Scalzi, Chuck Wendig, Jamil Smith, and Susan Hennessey

*** Randall Munroe

photo of Alexandra PetriAlexandra Petri

Some people are born awkward. Some achieve awkwardness. Some have awkwardness thrust upon them. Alexandra Petri is all three. She is a Washington Post columnist and blogger, an International Pun Champion, a playwright, and a Jeopardy! loser, and she’s been on your TV a couple of times. She is also a congressman’s kid, if that will make you buy this book! When she remembers, she does stand-up comedy too, but she’s been locked in her apartment for the past nine months making this book for you and hissing when exposed to sunlight.

Photo Credit: Trina Sobotka

 

photo of Randall MunroeRandall Monroe

Randall Munroe is the author of the number one New York Times bestsellers What If? and What If? 2, How To, and Thing Explainer; the science question-and-answer blog What If?; and the popular web comic xkcd. A former NASA roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the internet full time. He lives in Massachusetts.

Photo Credit: Adrianne Mathiowetz

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