Our Dumb Century

Rating:
Summary: A tour de force of history
Review: "Our Dumb Century" is, simply put, the most entertaining book I've ever had the pleasure of reading. On every page, covering each year of the 20th century, The Onion's crack team of writers bring their devastating sense of irony to every important and not-so-important event that a history enthusiast could ever want to think of. No prominent figure, from Hitler to Stalin to Nixon, is spared as the Onion launches a full frontal assault on lies, hypocrisy, stereotypes, and various misdeeds with the irreverent wit that has made its website an internet mainstay for close to a decade and running. You might think one would have a hard time laughing aloud at news of wars, genocides, and other high crimes, but you just need to take a look at the below headlines to understand what I'm talking about:

"The Machine: Will It Replace the China-Man?"

"Stalin Announces Five-Year 'Everybody Dies' Plan."

"Dastardly Japs Attack Colonially Occupied U.S. Non-State."

"Stock Market Crashes; Debacle Linked to Jews, Negroes, Catholics, Anarachists, Foreigners, Women Voters."

"'The Man' hurt by Black Panther Accusations."

"Kennedy Slain by CIA, Mafia, Castro, LBJ, Teamsters, Freemasons."

"Mr. T Releases 'Pity List '86.'"

And there's lots, lots more where that came from. Despite a few scattered moments of tastelessness, "Our Dumb Century" is chiefly one hilarious story after another, relentessly lampooning the foibles of human nature and the train wreck that American culture has become of late. I've reread some of these stories as many as ten times, and they never cease to be funny. Sometimes (most of the time, actually), life becomes so absurd that the best way to deal with it is just to laugh, and The Onion has always been extremely useful for just that purpose. "Our Dumb Century" manages to cast the light of irony on some truly dark times, which is an achievement that should not be discounted.

Rating:
Summary: Who said there's nothing funny about Wisconsin?
Review: Clever, sarcastic and witty, this is a tremendously funny bathroom/coffee table book. Every week, I look forward to the satire newpaper, and this collection of the century's headlining satirical news events hits all the right marks. Always irreverent, sometimes offensive, never unfunny, the writers for The Onion have got to be the funniest people in America. I literally laughed till I couldn't breathe while reading the likes of "Pentagon Develops A-Bomb-Resistant Desk", "Holy (expletive). Man Walks on (expletive) Moon", "CNN Deploys Troops in Iraq", and "Kenneth Starr Taunts Clinton With 'Sittin in a Tree' Song". This is well worth the money spent. You'll laugh, till you think you can't laugh any more, and then ...

Rating:
Summary: And don't forget the graphic design
Review: Genius book, as others have noted. But the equally genius graphic design also deserves mention. If you look at the book carefully, you'll appreciate how the designers evolve the look of these "front pages," parodying newspaper design from the early part of the century through the USA-TODAYification process that took place in the '80s.

One example: The eagle featured in the title banner at the top of each page is suddenly dropped in the late "psychedelic" '60s and replaced with an onion with eagle wings. Suitably trippy, and anti-establishment.

Terrific.

Rating:
Summary: "Giant poster of Mao seizes power in China"
Review: How can you not laugh at most of the stuff in here. My favorite: "Joe Piscapo - Will His Star Ever Stop Rising?"

Always a funny read - and definately worth just having around for laughs.

Rating:
Summary: Some of the best satire in print
Review: If you love history and love to laugh, get this book today. It's a good idea to order it over Amazon, too, since in the bookstore you may find yourself leafing through it and laughing too hard to muster the composure to take it to the cash register. That was my experience, anyway.

The book works as a serviceable social and political history of the 20th century that manages to be to be laugh-out-loud-funny on every page. The headlines are hilarious, and the accompanying stories play the joke out to perfection, sprinkling in endless references and allusions. If it happened in the 20th century and mattered to anyone, the Onion has found a way to satirize it in these pages -- whether you thought it deserved it or not.

Our Dumb Century's combination of historical acumen and humorous insight is worthy of Mark Twain.

Rating:
Summary: Cutting, Wickedly Funny Satire
Review: The Onion, with its weekly release of mock news-articles satirizing and lampooning the current status quo, is one of the most enjoyable humorous newspapers that currently exists. IT employs almost all types of humor, from subtletly to slapstick, from highbrow to lowbrow. However, nothing they write has even come close to the hilarity that Our Dumb Century brings to the reader. The book analyses the 20th Century from a not-quite-so objective standpoint, lampooning popular culture, spawning ludicrous conspiracy theories, ("Kennedy Slain by CIA, Mafia, Castro, LBJ, Teamsters, Freemasons)and reveling in the stupidity of our country and the world in the 20th Century. Every page brings something funny and satirical, from "World's Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg - 1912" to "President Confronts Depression with 'Big Deal' Plan: 'Big deal, I'm Rich!' Roosevelt Says - 1933" to "Reagan May Have been Elected, Doesn't Recall - 1981."

Although I am a history buff, anyone with an elemantary backround in American and World History will be highly amused by this brilliant piece of humor, although I found that as I learned more the book became funnier and funnier. Please, whether you appreciate the lighter side of history or your team just lost and you need something to cheer you up- read Our Dumb Century.

Rating:
Summary: Cutting, Wickedly Funny Satire
Review: The Onion, with its weekly release of mock news-articles satirizing and lampooning the current status quo, is one of the most enjoyable humorous newspapers that currently exists. IT employs almost all types of humor, from subtletly to slapstick, from highbrow to lowbrow. However, nothing they write has even come close to the hilarity that Our Dumb Century brings to the reader. The book analyses the 20th Century from a not-quite-so objective standpoint, lampooning popular culture, spawning ludicrous conspiracy theories, ("Kennedy Slain by CIA, Mafia, Castro, LBJ, Teamsters, Freemasons)and reveling in the stupidity of our country and the world in the 20th Century. Every page brings something funny and satirical, from "World's Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg - 1912" to "President Confronts Depression with 'Big Deal' Plan: 'Big deal, I'm Rich!' Roosevelt Says - 1933" to "Reagan May Have been Elected, Doesn't Recall - 1981."

Although I am a history buff, anyone with an elemantary backround in American and World History will be highly amused by this brilliant piece of humor, although I found that as I learned more the book became funnier and funnier. Please, whether you appreciate the lighter side of history or your team just lost and you need something to cheer you up- read Our Dumb Century.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome, Funny, Hilarious!
Review: This is a great coffee table book. The writers for The Onion have outdone themselves with this one - turning every major event (and some minor ones) in the 20th century into a hilarious story, pun or anecdote. From man walking on the moon, to funny takes on World War II and the Clinton impeachment, "Our Dumb Century" has it all. Onion aficionados and people new to this franchise's satiric wit will not be disappointed. Buy it and laugh again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Must have for anyone who finds humor in history
Review: This is the stuff you didn't learn in the classroom. Several hundred pages of satire later, you gain a greater appriciation for the American dream. I feel that this work is a way for people to look back and say, "God, I can't believe that..." While it was of course written for humor, The Onion takes a surprising look at the Century, touching base on everything from the Industrial revolution, the dust bowl, Spanish Influenza, Man on the Moon, to the Clinton scandal of the late 1990's. THis makes Our Dumb Century a must read for any humorous history buff!

Rating:
Summary: OMG is this funny
Review: When I first discovered The Onion two years ago, I literally woke up with sore abdominal muscles. Not from too many situps, from laughing out loud so hard at the most finely tuned news satire to come along in decades. "Our Dumb Century" features the Onion's classic satire newspapers for highlighted dates throughout the 20th century. Headlines include (October 29, 1919) "Teddy Roosevelt Allows Three Others to be Carved into Mountain," (November 21, 1943) "Loose Lips Sink Ship," and (January 21, 1993) "New President Feels Nation's Pain, Breasts." (The same date has "Tipper Gore Jerks Arrhythmically at Inagural Ball.") And that's just the headlines. The articles take the concepts and run. Not always even, not always hilarious, but there's something worth laughing out loud at on every page.

If you like to laugh, read The Onion.