The Onion Presents Chronicles of the Area Man

The Onion Presents

by The Onion

Take a look back at the Onion's coverage of this generation's most prominent newsmaker -- the Area Man. The Onion is already universally known for providing the best and most ground-breaking coverage of national and international events, but local reporting has always been at the core of America's Finest News Source. In this incisive and timeless collection, Chronicles Of The Area Man includes such stirring reports as "Area Man Has Far Greater Knowledge Of Marvel Universe Than Own Family Tree," "Area Woman To Get By On Looks For Six More Years," "Area Grandparents Still Have No Idea What Grandson Does For A Living," and the classic story of perseverance, "Area Man Makes It Through Day." With this collection of the Onion's best local coverage, you'll see there's a little bit of the Area Man inside us all.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Comedy

90 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 23, 2010

About the author

The satirical newspaper The Onion was founded in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Originally a weekly humor print publication targeting a local student population, The Onion is today a booming news organization known as America’s Finest News Source.

The launch of TheOnion.com in 1996 expanded its signature brand of satire to a national and international audience. Online expansion opened doors to growth in a multitude of areas. The company has become an omnipotent news empire, reaching millions of fans through print, broadcast, radio, mobile apps, books, and, in January 2011, two new television shows on the Independent Film Channel and Comedy Central. The website continues to be the nucleus of all The Onion does, described by TIME magazine as “the funniest site on the Internet.”

TheOnion.com now averages 40 million page views and roughly 7.5 million unique visitors per month. The Onion’s digital strategy has resulted in an enormous and dedicated fan base. The newspaper’s content is delivered constantly, Tweeted at optimum times and posted on Facebook during high-traffic periods. Subsequently, users can easily embed, share, or post articles and videos to their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. As a result, the Onion’s fans take an active role in the viral nature of the content. Within minutes of posting an article or video, the content materializes across a number of platforms.

Reviews

[Anri · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read any of The Onion's material, you pretty much already know what you're getting here. Some were funny, some were just okay. I liked Local Raccoons Once Again Take The Fall for Area Man (the poor much-maligned trash pandas!).

[Chy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you don't savvy the Onion, then I find it hard to believe you're even on the internet right now. And therefore, I'm going on with the assumption that you have at least some knowledge of that website and the sorts of things it does/has/is.

I never read any such articles on the site, but I quickly got into the gist of things. I gotta say, only one had me laughing out loud, but man, that was a doozy. For me. Quite a few were worth a chuckle or two, and the rest weren't so funny at all. But I can also see that others might see some of those as hilarious, depending on their personal experiences and how they relate the articles.

In the end, though, it's just the kind of thing that's more entertaining when cruising the net. But it was an all right way to waste a couple of hours.

[Meagan Houle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a series of short "articles" covering inconsequential (always humourous--it's The Onion) events in the lives of some of the most boring people in America. It's a fun little read if you're bored, though it's no masterpiece.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really hilarious stories, but the majority were forgettable.