A social and historical study of jokes told in the main English-speaking countries, based on an extensive use of archives and other primary sources including old and rare joke books. It is a tightly-argued book and uses the comparative method to undermine existing theories of humour, rooted in notions of hostility conflict and superiority and derived ultimately from Hobbes and Freud. Comparisons between the humour of specific nations and ethnic and regional groups make understanding the humour of each nation or group easier. Thus, Jewish humour is linked to that of the Scots, and Jewish jokes about Jewish women contrasted with Australian jokes about Australian men.