History is usually a random, messy affair

Mark Twain. A Horse s Tail

The one who tells the stories rules the world

Hopi saying

Sometimes the funniest things are true

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark wrote about

their farts. Sam Houston of Texas was the first man

to wear beads in Congress. America s Funny But

True History is about just this kind of real, factual,

funny history.

There s a saying that if you don t know your

own history, you are condemned to repeat it. I say

that if we can t laugh at ourselves, we re in even

worse trouble. Human beings do odd, strange

things and no one people has a monopoly on mak-

ing mistakes. History is all about real lives and

real people -- and these same people often loved to

tell a joke. If you can share a joke, it s hard to hate.

There are facts and jokes in Westward, Ha-ha!

that will make you laugh out loud, some that will

make you grin and groan, and others that will

make you squirm. While you re laughing, remem-

ber, the information in this book is true, at least as

far as anvbodv knows.