Rating: 
Summary: Excellent satire of our past century
Review: By far one of the most ingenious books to be published in recent times, Our Dumb Century successfully weaves the incredulous course of events of our twentieth century with a dry, subtle, sarcastic, daring, provocative, and profound sense of journalistic humor found in none other than The Onion. The result is absolutely hilarious to say the least.No important event is immune from the harsh, spirited bite of The Onion's ridicule--the invention of the airplane inspires an expedition to the sacred kingdom of Heaven, the discovery of a yeasty morsel makes front page news during the Great Depression, and Richard Nixon's attempts to annul the Watergate scandal go dreadfully awry. True with any newsstand edition of The Onion, Our Dumb Century contains, without a doubt, some tasteless and profane articles as well. Much of it is in the context of times past, and however offensive it may be, the satirical nature of the writing makes for some interesting consideration of how we perceive past events, past leaders, and how we as a people learned (or didn't learn) from those experiences. The authentic look of Our Dumb Century is the icing on the cake. In showing others the book, it took some explanation for them to understand that the majority of the pages were not published at the time. The layout, use of illustrations, headline fonts, and vocabulary encourage a strong sense of nostalgia while one is already glassy eyed from uncontrollable, prolonged laughter. I wish I could give this book more than a mere five-star rating.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Book!
Review: This is the ultimate funny book for me. I'm surprised at how some people find the book to be offensive to liberals. Actually, I find that the book pokes more fun at the right. Anyhow, it's just plain funny. I especially liked the headline "Head Deadhead Dead", and the stuff about Roosevelt, "Fireside Chat Nothing but a Stream of Cuss Words.", and the recurring thread of "France Surrenders". I also liked "Whites Eagerly Await Release of Windows 95". This is one of my favorite books, right up there with "Gray's Anatomy" and the phone book.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarous
Review: As has been demonstrated by previous reviews, this book is not for liberals. But for the rest of us it's the funniest thing I have ever read in my life.
Rating:
Summary: Irreverant, rude, and brilliant!
Review: Fans of the ONION's weekly paper, and anyone who enjoys sharp-witted humor will love this book, the successor to the throne of National Lampoon. I laughed so hard my sides shook.
Rating: 
Summary: A fantastically thorough shishkebobing of a century.
Review: You can sit and read through each page, or just skim the headlines. It will be equally rewarding either way. I advise the reader to laugh until you cry, put the book down and pick it up only after you are ready to start laughing again. I, personally, thought it started a little slow, but The Onion staff really got rolling around the Depression Era. Self-impressed baby boomers, for example, had best stay away. Anybody who fondly remembers the "good old days" will have a swift reminder that the good old days were often just as lousy as today. Cynical and biting, the Onion once again reasserts the age-old comedic maxim that sacred cows make the tastiest steaks.
Rating:
Summary: Take this, a grain of salt, and call me in the morning.
Review: This is exactly the type of book that will elicit a healthy collection of both 5 star and 1 star reviews. Many will be tempted to dismiss the humour as juvenile, but to do so would be to miss the cultural referances and snide tone abound in the book, which serves as the true source of humour. Those naive enough to believe that the witty and clever don't swear will dislike the book. For those of us that know that obscenities can add stylistic punctuation, check it out. Both subtle and not-so-subtle glimpses into the true methods of humankind through the medium of news-parody. If you think The Simpsons is more cartoon than societal parody, you can probably skip this one. If you feel Elton John writes tear-jerk music for money, not memorandum, then you probably think like the Onion staff, and you might do well to purchase "Our Dumb Century."
Rating:
Summary: Meant for those with a thick skin, not a thick skull
Review: Visiting the sicker half of my family in British Columbia, I came across "The Onion" sitting on my aunt and uncle's coffee table. Unsuspectingly, I picked it up, assuming it to be one of those humdrum local papers....The further I read, the more I laughed. My cousin caught me with his paper in hand, and came back the next day to torture me some more with the "our dumb century". By supper time, we all stood around the book, letting the food burn, howling, pointing out various sick, satirical headlines. Definately not for the faint of heart, but if you've got a thick skin, a balanced sense of how the universe truly operates, and can crack a smile now and again when someone flies in the face of the insipid "PC" movement, this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: I LAUGHED. I CRIED. I WET MY PANTS.
Review: If you don't find yourself rolling off the bed from this scathingly dead-on parody of the lives, times, changing mores, and ultimate silliness of the American 20th century, then you obviously do not possess a brain. . . . .
Rating:
Summary: Funnier than an appendectomy
Review: Anyway, so I'm at this barbecue with my girlfriend's family when her uncle pulls out this book with a "You gotta see this" look on his face. Five minutes later, her father, uncle, and I are sitting off to one side, flipping randomly through the headlines, laughing harder at each one. And just when we thought it couldn't get any funnier - HOLY SHIT - Man walks on the Fucking Moon! Frat boy humor aside, the headlines, stories, and sidebars are full of clever, biting humor, with much subtle reference ("Congress, Seeking Assurance Urges President to 'Tell Us About the Rabbits'") and not so subtle commentary ("Democracy Flowers Around Globe After Bombing of Vietnamese Village"). Currently reading it cover to cover, and purchasing more copies for deserving friends. Thanks to the introduction via this book, I'm now also a regular reader of "America's Finest News Source".
Rating:
Summary: I laughed until I stopped.
Review: While it's not the same as the weekly we all know and love, this book has the abstruse quality of offending everybody who manages to open it. This is a Good Thing. Ignore the reviews that claim this book is juvenile; they were written by folks with no sense of humor, or at least one that has been straight-jacketed by modern propriety. This book is the pinnacle of iconoclasm. And there are obscure references aplenty. (Am I the only one who got the reference to "Gus" Derleth?) Somewhere in the universe, Graham Chapman would be currently grinning his @$$ off, if he still had one.
|
