Rating: 
Summary: Hittin' 'Em All With A Vengeance!
Review: In light of the boom-and-bust phase that marked the first several years of the modern-day internet, I'm more than happy to see The Onion® still in operation (thanks, Al!). Whenever Mad® magazine isn't hard-hitting enough to satisfy my craving for great satire, and the latest eppie of South Park™ kinda [stinks], I turn to the online rendition of "America's Finest News Source"™ for my jocular jollies. And if an internet-connected PC isn't available, this latest hardcopy collection of their most infamous articles from the past several years really hits the spot! Even though many of the pieces presented within this book have been previously displayed on The Onion's® website, there's many more I hadn't experienced until now. And even the ones I've read before still got a pretty good guffaw or two outta me the second time 'round! I especially enjoy the book's non-linear arrangement. You can just open 'er right up just about anywhere and commence your reading enjoyment, then flip several pages forward or backward to another funny feature!Of course, you're probably asking yourself, "How good are these guys at hitting their marks in the world of headline spoofery?" Well, there are many occasions where I merely have to read the title of an Onion® article, and I'll be rollin' in giggly-fits! THAT'S how good these guys are! In fact, some of the papers' articles are merely titles without any actual content, 'cuz the title pretty much says it all (My personal fave: 'Special Olympics T-Ball Pitches Perfect Game')! Warning to the squeamish, however: the kind of humor you'll find within these pages is ofttimes dark ('Ant Farm Teaches Children About Toil, Death'), brutally honest ('U.S. Populace Lurches Methodically Through The Motions Of Another Day'), and totally sick and insensitive ('God Answers Prayers Of Paralyzed Little Boy: "No", Says God'). In other words, just what I'm lookin' for when I need a few yuks! You know you're in for some great journalism when you read about the 'You The Man / No, YOU The Man!' crossfire articles, the write-up about the 'Fun Toy Banned Because of Three Stupid Dead Kids', or the horrific exclusive on the 'Twelve Customers Gunned Down In Convenience-Store Clerk's Imagination'! The Onion® even dares to-- *GASP!*-- occasionally throw in a four-letter word here & there, as well as a few naughty bits once in a blue moon! Oh, the depravity! But even though I have a ball reading such Onion® pieces as 'Alzheimer's Sufferers Demand Cure For Pancakes', my top-fave write-ups are the ones that take shots at the comic-book collecting, RPG-playing, pop-culture worshiping segment of society that is geek culture. Having once worked at a comic shop for almost four years, I find many of these great articles, ersatz StatShots™ ('What Is Sarah Michelle Gellar Complaining About This Week?') and fraudulent InfoGraphics™ ('Rocky Horror at 25') aimed at get-a-lifers particularly brutal and hilarious. From the piece that states ' Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity, 20 Charisma' to Larry Groznic's op-ed 'Maybe I Can Impress Her With My "(Monty Python And The) Holy Grail" Quotes', not even the denizens of the social-outcast set are safe! And I for one am very happy about this fact... Well, I guess I'd better wind this whole thing up. After reading my words above, I'm sure some of you out there are saying to yourselves, "Geez, man, didja hafta list the titles of all those articles & stats? I mean, whatever happened to the element of surprise, huh?" I assure you that the articles I've mentioned in this review are but a small fraction of what you'll discover within the covers of this amazing tome! If you don't believe me, find out for yourself-you'll be glad you did! ESPECIALLY if you're an insensitive, uncaring scumbag who loves to laugh at the suffering of others, even if it's all made up! 'Late!
Rating:
Summary: Classy Journalism
Review: It is always re-assuring to know that class act journalism outfits like The Onion can still produce meaningful news for the masses. The quality reporting that lies within the pages of this book is unparalleled in it's honesty and integrity. The headlines alone make this book worth your hard earned money. A must buy.
Rating: 
Summary: You have to love the Onion
Review: It's not quite as good as their first book, "Our Dumb Century," but "Dispatches" is still hilarious. Just the headline "Chinese Woman Gives Birth to Septuplets, Has One Week to Choose" is good enough reason to buy this one. While I love writers like David Sedaris or P.J. O'Rourke, even more amazing to me are books like "Dispatches" and "Our Dumb Century," or SatireWire's "Economy of Errors." Sedaris and O'Rourke make you laugh on every page, but these guys make you laugh with almost every paragraph. Occasionally some pieces in Dispatches fall a little flat, like one about the '85 Chicago Bears reuniting to make another album. But the first-person editorials make up for any shortfalls: "I Just Love Corporations!" or "In Retrospect, I Guess We Might Have Resorted to Cannibalism A Bit Early."
Rating:
Summary: The comedy zeitgeist of the oughts
Review: NatLamp had it in the early 70s. SNL picked it up for about five, six years in the mid 70s. Spy mag had it in the late 80s, early 90s. It's been a long dry spell for trenchant comedy, but The Onion has it now. Often too hip for the room but never funnier. They hit the post-9/11 button exactly right, but this book gives you the buildup. Hilarious.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily hilarious
Review: Right now, when things in the world are not that funny, this book is the funniest thing to read; I couldn't put it down. This book by the editors of The Onion have done an extraordinary job. I couldn't stop laughing. I think this is the most humorous book I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: As Usual--Hilarious
Review: The Onion continues to set the standard for satire. I sent a copy to my brother for his birthday and he still thanks me every time we talk.
Rating:
Summary: Hysterical!
Review: The problem with satire is that the person writing it frequently has an axe to grind. As a result, it will inevitably be offensive, and hence unappreciated, by a significant portion of the population. The Onion has rather ingeniously avoided by this conundrum by mocking everyone and everything. I don't care what group you choose to affiliate yourself with, you're not human if you aren't laughing out loud, with tears streaming down your face, by the third page of "Dispatches from the Tenth Circle". What the brilliant "Our Dumb Century" did for the 1900's, so too does this book for current events. Through the medium of newspaper "articles", political leaders, musicians, actors, sports heroes, popular culture, etc. are lampooned with brutal accuracy. Most amazing is that in a book that contains literally hundreds of articles, almost all of the entries are remarkably literate. I can only describe them by suggesting that the reader imagine what it would be like if Dennis Miller edited the New York Times. Even when the humor turns lowbrow, as it sometimes does, it is so matter of fact that one can't help but laugh. There's no pretense, no embarrassment, just a deadpan delivery of frequently surreal material. This book is not for the easily offended, so if you hold your views and idols sacrosanct, skip this one. However, is you can stand to have that which you hold most dear skewered, and laugh about it, you will not regret purchasing this book. In fact I think former VP Al Gore's (I'm a registered Republican, so you can see what strange bed-fellows this book can make) statement on the back cover puts it best: "This publication is destructive to our shared values. Read it 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.?"
Rating:
Summary: A more illuminating treatise than the Bible
Review: There has, on occasion, been criticism leveled at American humour from us Brits across the pond on the grounds that the US has no grasp of irony. Well, the Onion firmly blows that notion out of the water. Gut-wrenchingly funny, dark as the midnight sky and sharp as a surgeons scalpel I have yet to come across a book so packed with top level merriment. What really sets the Onion apart from all other satirical publications is the incisiveness of its observational comedy: "World Death Rate Steady at 100 percent"; "Aspirin Taken Daily With Bottle Of Bourbon Reduces Awareness Of Heart Attacks". The point-blank absurdity of humanity is exposed again and again with a quality and consistency unsurpassed. The Onion is more than able to cut open the deepest, most banal and ridiculous behaviour of our species and leave the entrails hanging out on display for all to see. "Students Prepare Breasts For Increased Springtime Display". See? In this respect it stands alone: I am a fan of both The Simpsons and Larry Sanders TV shows but this book takes satire to a new level. For those readers not accustomed with US tabloid-style newspaper reporting some feature styles may be unfamiliar......but what the hell. Buy it anyway. In more enlightened moments I like to think that the human race will save itself from destruction only by eschewing all traditional news journalism across the globe in favour of this: the greatest media reporting ever committed to print. "New Starbucks Opens In Rest Room Of Existing Starbucks". Sheer genius.
Rating:
Summary: Truth vs. Reality
Review: There's truth, and then there's reality. What The Onion prints is never reality, but sometimes it's truer than the front page of the New York Times. I'm known in my circles as a sort of "Mikey" of humor, someone beyond curmudgeon. People tell jokes, and laugh, and say "That's really funny, but let's see if Rivkah laughs." Well, The Onion makes me laugh. Regularly, and outloud. It's beyond satire; I don't think there's a word for the humor in The Onion. There are probably people out there who don't find The Onion funny, but I don't want to know them. With article titles such as "Species of Blue-Green Algae Announces IPO," "Fun Toy Banned Because of Three Stupid Dead Kids," or "Christ Announces Hiring of Associate Christ" you just know it has to be hilarious, and absurd and yet so true. How these writers can pen this stuff day after day without going into seizures, I don't know. I do know that reading The Onion keeps world events in perspective, a service I badly need. Thank goodness it will always be there, because we continue to provide the writers with so much fodder. Yes, you may be able to read The Onion on-line, or if you are very lucky, pick up the actual paper, but still, buy this book. It's so much more portable than your PC. You can take it on appointments, to read while you're waiting, read it over coffee at the corner bakery, or snuggle up in bed with it. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Book Ever Written In the History of Time
Review: This book is simply too, too funny. Articles about children suffering from "Youthful Tendency Disorder", the United States government offering "Premium citizenship", and toy recalls necessitated by "three stupid kids" are the highlights. The people who write this stuff are dusturbingly clever.
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