cover image The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 13

The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 13

Robert Siegel, The Onion. Three Rivers, $17 (272pp) ISBN 978-1-4000-4724-6

The Onion, a satirical newspaper known for wrapping its cultural commentary and loony anecdotes in the language of a suburban daily, offers a fourth compilation (after last year's Dispatches from the Tenth Circle) comprising all its stories from October 2000 to October 2001. Something like a USA Today written by stoned, TV-addled teenagers (albeit very smart ones), each issue features a set of short news stories, an informational graphic or two and an op-ed, among other things. The headlines are often so funny in and of themselves that they get traded at cocktail parties in lieu of actual conversation: ""First Grade Teacher Apprehends Urinator""; ""Asian Man Has Thing For Asian Women""; ""Nepotism Passed Off As Synergy."" The Onion might be formulaic but the formula works. There are more hard laughs to be found in a weekly edition than in an average sit-com, a standard late night monologue and a typical Adam Sandler vehicle combined. b&w illustrations.