Ah, if only all history textbooks could be this entertaining.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has pretty much conquered its niche within cable television, so the next logical leap was to jump mediums.

America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democratic Inaction is everything you could want out of a faux history book and more.

The writers of The Daily Show poke fun at modern politics and current events on a daily basis and Bush jokes have just become too easy. But what about the rest of America's grand history? That's the challenge they set for themselves and they pass with flying reds, whites and blues.

At first glance (aside from a cynical cover featuring America's only current hard-question-asking journalist), America looks like a genuine history textbook plucked out of a middle school civics class.

There's even a genuine "This book is the property of" stamp on the inside cover -- you remember, that place where you put your name and write in how good the condition of the book is in After a gut-busting foreword by none other than Thomas Jefferson, the book jumps headfirst into history with "Democracy Before America," a look at pre-America government systems.

One of the first things that strikes you is how much the text reads like a segment of The Daily Show. You can practically hear the voices of Stephen Colbert or Rob Corddry in your head as you go along -- not as scary of a thought as it initially sounds.

Immersed in Daily Show mentality, another surprising welcome is the somewhat regular use of profanity. Although sometimes used cheaply, it's funny nonetheless because you rarely see it coming.

As with virtually all textbooks, often the best elements are those outside the main informational material -- America is no different.

Although the main passages induce the occasional guffaw, the gold of the book is often in its superfluous material -- photo captions, text blocks, even fake classroom activities. See pictures comparing Congress to a dual-chamber bong or a play a board game about running for president. There's even a page devoted to C-SPAN drinking games.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the book is written by the faceless writers behind the scenes of the show, our favorite reporters still manage to make their own special appearances throughout the book via scattered opinion pieces or history lessons such as Rob Corddry's "The Founding ... Mothers?!?" or Samantha Bee's "Would You Mind If I Told You How We Do It in Canada?"

If anything is lacking, it's an appearance by the man himself, Jon Stewart. Although listed as one of the many writers, it would've been nice to see him with his own unique pieces like his reporters.

On a bipartisan note, right-wing readers should be able to enjoy this book as much as any liberal. While the show is admittedly leftist (if I can admit it, you conservatives can admit the opposite about Bill O'Reilly, please), the book takes no aim at one side or the other -- just history itself. A pullout election guide is the only modern political satire in the book and honestly, it nails both candidates rather equally.

I knew this book was truly funny when I noticed myself laughing at it -- alone. Humans have a tendency to laugh out loud harder when in company, but even in the confines of my room, I found myself chortling at America in the most obnoxiously good kind of way.