1809. Washington Irving was the first American literary artist to earn his living solely through his writings and is considered to be the Father of the American Short Story. Irving wrote this satire under the pseudonym of Diedrich Knickerbocker. It has been called the first great book of comic literature written by an American. Purporting to be a scholarly account of the Dutch occupation of the New World, the book is a burlesque of history books as well as a satire of politics in his own time. See other Irving titles available from Kessinger Publishing.