See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.


Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Onion Presents Our Dumb Century
 
See larger image
 

The Onion Presents Our Dumb Century (Paperback)

by Scott Dikkers (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


19 used from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £3.50 £3.50 21 used & new from £0.77
Paperback (1) 20 used & new from £0.56
Calendar (Page/Day) Order it used

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Onion's Our Dumb World: 73rd Edition: Atlas of the Planet Earth

The Onion's Our Dumb World: 73rd Edition: Atlas of the Planet Earth

by The Onion
4.2 out of 5 stars (9)  £11.89
The "Onion's" Finest News Reporting: v.1: Vol 1

The "Onion's" Finest News Reporting: v.1: Vol 1

by Scott Dikkers
4.2 out of 5 stars (5)  £6.99
Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth

Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth

by Onion
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £10.96
Dawn of the Dumb: Dispatches from the Idiotic Frontline

Dawn of the Dumb: Dispatches from the Idiotic Frontline

by Charlie Brooker
4.4 out of 5 stars (26)  £4.99
Bad Science

Bad Science

by Ben Goldacre
4.6 out of 5 stars (142)  £3.60
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Boxtree Ltd (23 Jul 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0752217437
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752217437
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 181,144 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
Funny Gifts
   Ask.com    Find the Best Results for Funny Gifts 
Funny Presents
   www.UrbanOutfitters.co.uk    Urban Outfitters Gifts Online! View Our Funky & Unique Gift Range Now 
Totally Funky Gifts
   www.Totally-Funky.co.uk/Gifts    Looking For A Funky Gift? Huge Range of Amazing Gifts 
  
 

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's America's most popular newspaper, but there may be a few people out there who are sadly unaware of The Onion's mighty journalistic legacy. To combat this cultural illiteracy, Editor-in-Chief Scott Dikkers and his writing staff have assembled this collection of great front pages from the last one hundred years. Here is just a sampling of the headlines: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Boasts: "No Man Can Stop Me"; AWESOME! Nation Wowed by Tremendous Hindenburg Explosion; Martin Luther King: "I Had a Really Weird Dream Last Night"; Clinton Denies Lewinsky Allegations: "We Did Not Have Sex, We Made Love." And those are just the headlines; the stories themselves are all masterpieces of the journalist's trade. Of course, readers with delicate sensibilities may find some of these accounts a bit too risqué, and perhaps even tasteless. (Among the potential offenders: Rosa Parks's decision to "screw this bus shit" and take a cab.) But if you're looking for an antidote to all the 20th-century hoopla promulgated by stuffed shirts like Peter Jennings and Harold Evans--not to mention the best history book since 1066 and All That--then Our Dumb Century is the one for you. --Ron Hogan

Product Description
This collection of front page news stories from "The Onion", a satirical magazine from America, includes such headlines as "World's Largest Metaphor hits Ice-Berg: Titanic Representation of man's Hubris Sinks in North Atlantic", and "Marijuana Smoking Linked to Getting High".

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?


 

Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
 (25)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is why satire was invented, 12 Feb 2004
By Andrew Olivo Parodi (Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
Satire is used to perfection in this book, a ficticious recounting of the headlines of the 20th Century. As the editor of this newspaper calls it, this is "funny fake news."

The great thing about this book is that the stories are often related with the utter indifference one suspects reporters must develop after years on the job, packaged for the short attention span the public often has. These articles take the folly and "real" stories behind the stories, the ones that were never talked about in their day, and prints them as front page and headline news. Try, for example: "Eleanor Roosevelt, Nation Hails our First Lesbian President." Or regarding Pearl Harbor, "Dastardly Japs Bomb Colonially Occupied US Non-State." Or how about terming Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio's magical appeal as, "Nation Captived by Fairytale Wedding of Sullen Loner, Depressed Pill-Popper." Or the optimistic, "Drugs Win Drug War" alongside a picture of a bong-smoking man in tie-dye approaching the presidential podium. Page after page of "reprinted" front pages (a joke in itself, because there certainly was no Onion in 1904) makes this a great read which literally brought tears to my eyes.

Life ain't always pretty, but with the Onion it is always funny.

Andrew Parodi

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A genuine, 100%, instant comic masterpiece, 25 April 2000
By A Customer
I mean it - and I'm a hard man to please - even more so when it comes to Americans and what they often deem to be funny. My only caveat is a requirement for any reader to be capable of revelling in absurdly idiotic humour - think the absolute cream of Monty Python, Blackadder and Private Eye all rolled into one.

Dumb Century is a true piece of comic genius - incredible detail, a hit/miss gag ratio unmatched in anything I've read or seen recently. This is a book I will treasure for a very long time, dip into again and again, and dig out the second my future kids start struggling to maintain their interest in A-Level history. Brilliant.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The distilled essence of the Onion, 8 May 1999
By A Customer
I have always been a little disappointed with the weekly editions of the Onion. The few comedic gems are tarnished by the more mundane body of material. Of course I have to admit that it is an immense task to publish a weekly full newspaper parody that keeps up with current events as well as the Onion does. So it is understandable that not every article reverberates with the hilarity of "Jesus converts to Islam". This book gives the writers of the Onion the opportunity to concentrate the key events of each year of the past century into one or two pages of material. The result is that all of the writers' talents shine through. The headlines and stories give an educated, irreverent, sometimes a tad offensive, and sometimes remarkably insightful twist to the most important events of the American twentieth century. The book is not perfect. I felt it faltered slightly from the mid 80s to the present (there could be a correlation between this sentiment and the fact that the period from the mid 80s to the present is the only period which I have personally experienced). Nevertheless, this is a wonderful book which I rate right up there with such classics as "Bored of the Rings".
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Tu Superbus Es
Move over "The (Deeper) Meaning of Liff," there's a new contender in town for the title of Best Value Humorous Book Ever Written. Read more
Published on 20 May 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars We're doomed. But at least it's funny
Absolutely brilliant; sometimes the humour cuts a little dangerous (mostly involving the Jews; stories there are on dodgy ground). Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars NEW ONION BOOK: PUBLISHERS, BOOKSTORES, AUTHORS HAPPY
I shall never see the Moon Landing in the same light again.

This is one funny book. (It could hardly be two funny books - unless you use a hacksaw)

Buy it. Laugh.

Published on 7 Jan 2001 by husey@hisoffice.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Very funny book.
Genuinely one of the funniest books I've read. Intelligent satire but also some good old puerile, infantile stuff, which is laugh-out-loud funny. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars I started laughing the moment I opened the book.
Wonderfully irreverent, and a wickedly incisive view of history. Buy it for all your friends.
Published on 14 April 2000 by garthtucker@cableinet.co.uk

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising evidence that Americans have a sense of humour
Amazing. The only consolation of living in rapidly-declining Britain was that we thought we were the only people with a sense of irony. That doesn't stand up any more. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars The ONLY source of intelligent humour I can find
Finally, humour has reached a new level with "Our Dumb Century".

WAR ENDS AS ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND IS FOUND ALIVE - "How fares Europe" asks presumed dead... Read more

Published on 14 Feb 2000 by funnyman@hotmail.com

4.0 out of 5 stars Not baaad
I was mildly amused by some of the stories here. Not at all bad though - highly recommended but not quite on an Electric Rat scale.
Published on 10 Jan 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Indeed the funniest book ever written
I can confirm what it says on the back, that this is indeed the funniest book ever written.

I bought three copies.

Published on 4 Jan 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Parody Headlines and stories of major events this century
Just buy it. NOW
Published on 27 Dec 1999

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

Shop The Body Shop

 

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

More info on Wish Lists

 

A Close Shave

Philips Nivea Coolskin HS8060 Moisturizing Rotary Shaving System
For all types of hair removal, stay smooth with Amazon.co.uk.

Discover Shaving & Hair Removal

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates