Dispatches From the Tenth Circle: The Best of the Onion Book

“The Onion is laugh-out-loud, go-tell-your-friends, get-angry-you-didn’t-think-of-it funny.”
–Conan O’Brien

“Outside of maybe Dario Fo, an Italian who few are sure exists, the Onion people make the most consistently perfect and excoriating social commentary we currently have. But will those Nobel bastards honor them, too? Only God, our merciless and just God, knows.”
–Dave Eggers

“The funniest publication in the United States.”
–The New Yorker

“This publication is tasteless and destructive to our shared values. Read it for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. Seriously, what else could make me laugh–much less laugh uproariously–while being offended week after week after week?”
–Al Gore

“The Onion is the funniest thing in news since Dan Rather’s spooky stare.”
–Matt Groening

“Brutal satire that rushes into the far reaches of race, class, sexuality, and culture where many publications–and critics–fear to tread.”
–Chicago Tribune

“The Onion, unlike any other entity in our media culture, offers a refreshingly honest look at our complicated life.”
–Ken Burns

Publishers Weekly

Siegel, who began writing for the Onion in 1995 at age 23, became the satirical publication's editor by 1996, grabbing readers with such headlines as "Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs," "Lutheran Minister Loves to Fuck His Wife" and "C-SPAN Releases Too Hot for C-SPAN! Video." With a surfeit of social/cultural commentary subtexts, some savage, the Onion has more layers than one might think. This collection offers thoroughly entertaining stuff like "Nation's Last Themeless Restaurant Closes" and "New Study Too Frightening to Release." Launched in 1988 as a free weekly for University of Wisconsin dorms, the nutty newspaper now has a circulation of 300,000, proclaiming itself "America's finest news source" and "the world's most popular humor periodical." Perhaps they get away with this because their first book, Our Dumb Century, winner of the 2001 Thurber Prize for American Humor, was a New York Times bestseller. To ignite future projects, the editorial staff left Wisconsin last January to open a New York office, but they didn't lose their sense of humor in the transition, as evidenced by the hilarity here, such as "Fanzine Marred by Typo" and "New Starbucks Opens in Rest Room of Existing Starbucks." Some pieces are short ("Ritalin Cures Next Picasso"), some long, and this collection, with more than 500 b&w photos, illustrations, charts and maps, garners genuine guffaws. No matter how you slice it, the Onion has appeal. (Sept. 4) Forecast: National marketing includes 16-copy floor displays and ads in alternative weeklies and college newspapers, plus a 20-city morning radio campaign. Since the Onion paid PW the highest compliment by parodying Show Daily at BEA, we must return the favor andadmit that these nutballs probably have another bestseller on their hands. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.