Jean Shepherd Book order

A beloved classic of humorous Americana, this book inspired the iconic holiday film and live musical. First released in 1983, the film has become a Christmas staple, celebrated for its affectionate and wry portrayal of a family’s Christmas experiences during the Depression in small-town Indiana. This edition compiles the autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd used to create the enduring film. Readers will enjoy young Ralphie Parker’s amusing discoveries, including the truth behind his decoder ring, the hilarious family feud over a risqué leg lamp, and Ralphie’s intense showdown with bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill. Central to the narrative is Ralphie’s relentless quest to convince Santa—or anyone—to gift him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle, despite the adults’ warnings of “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.” The stories, originally part of larger collections, come together to form an irresistible piece of Americana, equally capable of warming hearts and tickling funny bones, just like the film.

A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories—the beloved, bestselling classics that inspired the movie A Christmas StoryBefore Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant—and utterly hilarious—works of comic art. In God We All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations.In God We Trust , Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage “You can never go back.” Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.