Product Description

McSweeney’s began in 1998 as a literary journal that published only works rejected from other magazines. Today, it has grown to be one of the country’s best and largest-circulation literary journals, attracting works from some of the finest writers in the country, including David Foster Wallace, Ann Cummins, Rick Moody, Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, William T. Vollmann, and many new talents. McSweeney's publishes on a roughly quarterly schedule, and each issue is markedly different from its predecessors in terms of design and editorial focus. It has grown to be one of the country's best and largest-circulation literary journals. The journal is committed to finding new voices, publishing work of gifted but underappreciated writers, and pushing the literary form forward at all times. We have no idea what Issue 20 will be.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #629362 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 250 pages

Customer Reviews

Forgoing the Art...
Well, this is a worthwhile purchase, but not for the skippable and unreadable topical political ephemera it comes bathed in. This issue is housed in a cigar box, and features old political artstuffs worth only about a cursory "Huh!" The real treasure here is, as usual, the stories, which are especially strong in this volume.

They're all historical fiction, and despite most connotations with those words, they're all very, very good. Christopher Howard writes a taxing but beautifully written and well-imagined story about an indentured servant and a curmudgeon floating down the Mississippi causing trouble in the early 19th Century. Adam Golaski does three flash fiction responses to Degas paintings, which are welcome little kicks. Brendan Connell writes a terrific pseudo-biography of a horrendously violent man and his various ruthlessnesses that infers its own sense of morality without browbeating the reader. Sean Casey has an uproarious story about an autobiographer detailing his own bizarre conception, and T.C. Boyle writes a rich, compelling novella about an orphan left for dead in rural France. It (Issue 19) captures well the McSweeney's Ideal: Well-conceived, well-executed stories that are as imaginative as they are powerfully written--denotatively enjoyable stories with sly and surprising heart.

Pamphlets better than mag
The reproductions of wartime pamphlets and the box they come in is worth the price alone. The mag itself wasn't nearly as interesting as the reproductions of:

- George W. Bush's dental records from 1973

- an RNC 1967 pamphlet called "How Your Horoscope Can Help the Republican Party Win!"

- the DOD's 1961 pamphlet "Fallout Protection: What to know and do about nuclear attack."

- the DOD's 1957 "Guide to the Middle East" which ironically contains the lines: "Traditionally, Americans believe in the right of all peoples to determine their own future. Our policy is to support the rights of Middle Eastern peoples without interfering in their internal affairs. We hope to promote peace among the middle Eastern states."

- a 1939 English pamphlet called "Some things you should know in case war should come" that gives information such as "water can only be applied to the bomb itself in the form of a fine spray, for hich a handpump with a length of hose and special nozzle are needed. If you throw a bucket of water on a burning incendiary bomb it will explode and throw burning fragments in all directions."

- a 1918 YMCA pamphlet called "The Stuff That Wins" which urges young soldiers to "not dissipate their energy with gambling, women, or drink."

- correspondence between a man who was arrested for fornication with a black woman out of wedlock and his family in 1911

And a BUNCH of other incredible stuff.