Book excerpt: It's no surprise that, as he claims in his thoughtful and witty introduction, humorist Queenan (Balsamic Dreams) relished the opportunity to pore over and select the hilarious and sometimes disturbing works in this anthology. As he points out, "One of the great pleasures in reading books that are hundreds and even thousands of years old is in discovering how little the targets of the satirist have changed over the centuries." The buffoonery and sometimes depravity of such targets are on full display in this volume, which features 30 works by 19 authors and includes such classics as "A Modest Proposal," Candide, and shorter pieces by Mark Twain and Flann O'Brien. Gargantua and Pantagruel and Don Quixote rollick through brief selections as well. Queenan makes a good case for the less obvious choices rounding out the collection, notably Machiavelli's The Prince and de Sade's Justine, but he fails to link the ancient with the contemporary: the last half-century of bitter and cynical writing goes disappointingly ignored. And yet, though heavily weighted toward "classic satire," this anthology is likely the best of its kind to date. Recommended for all libraries.