I can’t think of a newspaper headline more famous in all of history than “Dewey Defeats Truman,” but “Headless Body in Topless Bar” has to rank second. That gem was dreamt up by the staff of New York Post, of course, and it’s one of many all-bold wonders collected in the humorous hardback HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR: THE BEST HEADLINES FROM AMERICA’S FAVORITE NEWSPAPER.

During a 1989 student trip to the Big Apple in high school, I distinctly remember my journalism adviser decrying how New Yorkers snapped up the Post while letting The New York Times sit virtually untouched on the stands. This piqued my curiosity.

I no longer have the copy of the Post I then bought to see just what all the tawdry fuss was all about, but this book collects several front covers from that era. Actually, it goes back even further than that and continues right up until the present day, showing that while newspaper fortunes and circulation may decline, the sense of humor at the Post remains strong.

How else to describe headlines like:
• “756,” to mark Barry Bonds’ home-run record, but with the numbers spelled out in steroid syringes;
• “Bad Lay,” on Enron exec Kenneth Lay;
• “Chillary,” summing up the former First Lady and current presidential election;
• “Elevator moo goo guy ran,” on a Chinese deliveryman who skipped out on immigation officials; and
• ”Canned Pineapple,” describing pock-marked dictator Manuel Noriega’s trip behind bars.

Among the frequent targets include Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Paris Hilton, O.J. Simpson, Mike Tyson, John Gotti and Saddam Hussein. Not all the headlines are funny or clever, but a majority at least carry a semblance of amusement. A few are even tasteless, like the June 9, 2006 cover of a dead terrorist’s face; it’s not the headline of “Gotcha!” that’s as oh-no-they-di’n't as the comic-strip word balloon they pasted next to his closed mouth: “Warm up the virgins.”

HEADLESS BODY works better as a cultural artifact than a humor book, even if you’re most likely to find it shelved as the latter. Occasionally, a sidebar explains the story behind the headline – including the infamous one from which this book takes its title – which is an appreciated glimpse into a place at which I kinda wish I worked. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.