My Four Weeks in France

In 1917 Ring Lardner sailed for Europe as a correspondent, and the book he brought back turns a wartime assignment into deadpan comedy. Written as America entered the First World War, it follows him across the Atlantic and up toward the Western Front, less interested in strategy than in seasickness, baffling French menus, unhelpful officials, and the everyday absurdities of a humorist adrift in a country whose language he cannot speak. Lardner keeps the tone light even as the war looms in the background, playing the bewildered American abroad for all it is worth. The result is part travel diary, part comic monologue, and a revealing glimpse of how the conflict looked to an ordinary visitor. This free PDF and EPUB edition brings the account back into print.