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McSweeney's Issue 26 (Mcsweeney's Quarterly Concern) Three Part Book Set by (January 28, 2008) Paperback Pck Pap/Ha
McSweeney's 26 comes in three two small, oblong books of stories by writers large and small (John Brandon, Amanda Davis, Uzodinma Iweala, and eight more), set in regions near and far (Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Spain, Arkansas), and a third book, Where to Invade Next, edited by Stephen Elliott and inspired by actual Pentagon documents, which seeks to give a picture of just how our government could create a rationale for its next round of wars. Read them one at a time, or all at once, but know that this one’s got it all--whirlwind visions of the world of today, and dead-serious essays about which parts of it the United States might soon be confronting.
Unknown Binding
First published January 28, 2008
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About the author
Dave Eggers
352 books9,446 followersDave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 16, 2008
It's funny to read through the other reviews and see how upset McSweeney's readers get when they have to suffer through something non-literary. Issue number 26 of McSweeney's is split up into three different books - two 4 X 6 paperback collections of short stories and one 8 X 6 hardcover fictionalized dossier based on Wesley Clark's famous "seven countries in five years" quote. Clark has never named the seven countries so it was up to Stephen Elliot and company to do the research and imagine just what a "the next seven countries we should invade" dossier looks like.
One of the 4X6 paperbacks is dedicated to "new stories from overseas", the other, "new stories from our shores." Given my affinity for global literature, it's no surprise that I picked up Issue 26 to read the new stories from overseas. So I was an unhappy camper when I opened my backpack to find that I had left that section in some cafe or park in Medellín.
"Where to Invade Next", I assumed, would be an hyper-ironic satire of U.S. foreign policy. Instead it was a deadpan exercise in realistic imagination. Given Obama's latest comments on Iran and the publication of McCain's '74 thesis on the lack of American faith in US foreign policy, it is a timely exercise in imagination.
Where might the US invade next? Why? Some countries came as a complete surprise, like Uzbekistan which, despite all my years doing the Global Voices digest, I still know so little about. Some proposed countries to invade, like Venezuela, were a tough sell. Others, like Sudan, just about had me convinced that we actually should.
I recently listened to a fascinating debate between Niall Ferguson and Peter Schwartz wherein Ferguson emphasizes the important of imagining alternative past histories to better understand both the actual history that took place and the present where we've arrived. "Where to Invade Next" is a wonderful little book because as you flip through each page you wonder, 'wow, what if we really did invade each of these seven countries within five years? Where would we be today? Where would the rest of the world be?"
I assumed that, like the Words Without Borders book, Axis of Evil, one of the booklets of short stories would introduce us to writers from the very countries we might invade. Instead it seems to be a hodge-podge mix from Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Spain, and Nigeria. I was only able to read the second parts of stories by the Bosnian, Ismet Prcic, and the Nigerian, Uzodinma Iweala. (Both stories are based in the US.)
New Stories From Our Shores is a collection of ... well, yeah, new stories from our shores. I loved the excerpt from John Brandon's Arkansas, and hope to buy the entire book. I also really liked Wayne Harrison's story about a meth addict mechanic, Charity. Amanda Davis' Sleep and Michael Gills' How Jesus Comes didn't do it for me.
One of the 4X6 paperbacks is dedicated to "new stories from overseas", the other, "new stories from our shores." Given my affinity for global literature, it's no surprise that I picked up Issue 26 to read the new stories from overseas. So I was an unhappy camper when I opened my backpack to find that I had left that section in some cafe or park in Medellín.
"Where to Invade Next", I assumed, would be an hyper-ironic satire of U.S. foreign policy. Instead it was a deadpan exercise in realistic imagination. Given Obama's latest comments on Iran and the publication of McCain's '74 thesis on the lack of American faith in US foreign policy, it is a timely exercise in imagination.
Where might the US invade next? Why? Some countries came as a complete surprise, like Uzbekistan which, despite all my years doing the Global Voices digest, I still know so little about. Some proposed countries to invade, like Venezuela, were a tough sell. Others, like Sudan, just about had me convinced that we actually should.
I recently listened to a fascinating debate between Niall Ferguson and Peter Schwartz wherein Ferguson emphasizes the important of imagining alternative past histories to better understand both the actual history that took place and the present where we've arrived. "Where to Invade Next" is a wonderful little book because as you flip through each page you wonder, 'wow, what if we really did invade each of these seven countries within five years? Where would we be today? Where would the rest of the world be?"
I assumed that, like the Words Without Borders book, Axis of Evil, one of the booklets of short stories would introduce us to writers from the very countries we might invade. Instead it seems to be a hodge-podge mix from Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Spain, and Nigeria. I was only able to read the second parts of stories by the Bosnian, Ismet Prcic, and the Nigerian, Uzodinma Iweala. (Both stories are based in the US.)
New Stories From Our Shores is a collection of ... well, yeah, new stories from our shores. I loved the excerpt from John Brandon's Arkansas, and hope to buy the entire book. I also really liked Wayne Harrison's story about a meth addict mechanic, Charity. Amanda Davis' Sleep and Michael Gills' How Jesus Comes didn't do it for me.
August 26, 2014
This issue suffers from a bland uniformity of style, and the presentation of "home/abroad" wartime flipbooks is a bit of a flop. The whole outfit looks somewhat cheap and is less luxurious to read than other McSweeney's issues.
My original review of this issue was insanely furious, but since then I've tapped into my inner Zen and swallowed a kegload of humble pie. Thank you, Dalai the Baker.
If you think, however, as a parting portent, I'm reading John Brandon's tedious Arkansas, you've got another think coming. Oh nonny-nonny-no-no. Good God, he is DULL!
My original review of this issue was insanely furious, but since then I've tapped into my inner Zen and swallowed a kegload of humble pie. Thank you, Dalai the Baker.
If you think, however, as a parting portent, I'm reading John Brandon's tedious Arkansas, you've got another think coming. Oh nonny-nonny-no-no. Good God, he is DULL!
May 10, 2024
Some fun stuff here. I liked the conceit of the small books for soldiers on tour. Also liked the Peterborough references. The Arkansas excerpt was this close to getting me to put it on hold at the library.
Congrats. I have a few more of these to get through and if they are all like this then I will be happy to do so.
Congrats. I have a few more of these to get through and if they are all like this then I will be happy to do so.
December 13, 2020
Not bad! Apparently I managed to pick up all three pieces of this at a book sale or something, and only reunited the two short story collections with Where to Invade Next recently.
September 19, 2011
McSweeney's 26 comes in 3 books - two paperbacks (if you cut a normal book in two horizontally that's the size of the paperbacks) and a hardback. The hardback is the least interesting here as it's called "Where to Invade Next" and is a non-fiction look at countries in the Middle East and North Korea and profiles the despots and regimes, giving statistics of how brutal life in their societies is and haunting statistics like how many die from starvation, etc.
The way the paperbacks are designed is to mirror the Armed Service Editions from WW2 where servicemen were given pocket paperbacks to take with them so they'd always have something to read. The militaristic theme continues with each story separated by a painting done by a former soldier after WW2.
So onto the fiction. There were only 2 of the 11 stories here that really caught my attention. Ismet Prcic's "Porcus Omnivorus" tells the story of a Slav who, after escaping his war torn homeland, settles into a life in the United States. Making his way home from a party one morning he encounters another Slav who takes him to his house for a party. When there the man realises that these people, whom he thought were fellow comrades, turn out to be the enemies he fought against. Prcic builds the tension nicely as he has his protagonist slowly realise this and then tries to escape. Great story, well told.
The other stand out was John Brandon's "Arkansas", an excerpt from his novel of the same name. Two drug runners in the South meet their new boss, their new lodgings, and go on a drug deal, unexpectedly bringing back an unwelcome visitor. Brandon's two main characters are well realised and the dialogue is very believable. The fast moving story taking in all aspects of low-income living in modern America is fascinating and I loved it so much I ordered a copy of Brandon's book.
McSweeney's 26 looks nice and is well designed but overall most of the fiction here is average to crap besides the two gems found here. Probably give this a miss, there are better McSweeney's out there.
The way the paperbacks are designed is to mirror the Armed Service Editions from WW2 where servicemen were given pocket paperbacks to take with them so they'd always have something to read. The militaristic theme continues with each story separated by a painting done by a former soldier after WW2.
So onto the fiction. There were only 2 of the 11 stories here that really caught my attention. Ismet Prcic's "Porcus Omnivorus" tells the story of a Slav who, after escaping his war torn homeland, settles into a life in the United States. Making his way home from a party one morning he encounters another Slav who takes him to his house for a party. When there the man realises that these people, whom he thought were fellow comrades, turn out to be the enemies he fought against. Prcic builds the tension nicely as he has his protagonist slowly realise this and then tries to escape. Great story, well told.
The other stand out was John Brandon's "Arkansas", an excerpt from his novel of the same name. Two drug runners in the South meet their new boss, their new lodgings, and go on a drug deal, unexpectedly bringing back an unwelcome visitor. Brandon's two main characters are well realised and the dialogue is very believable. The fast moving story taking in all aspects of low-income living in modern America is fascinating and I loved it so much I ordered a copy of Brandon's book.
McSweeney's 26 looks nice and is well designed but overall most of the fiction here is average to crap besides the two gems found here. Probably give this a miss, there are better McSweeney's out there.
June 24, 2008
What I like best about McSweeney's is that it is often experimental in that it asks us to reconsider what should and should not be considered "fiction." Most volumes are comprised of a handful of short stories by mostly lesser-known authors, but every now and then there's a curveball. Issue 26 is divided into three parts: one miniature book of stories that take place in the United States, a second tiny book of stories that take place abroad, and, finally, a hard-bound James Bond-looking "dossier" book profiling seven countries the United States may be planning to attack in the near future.
Most reviews I've read have praised the fiction but bemoaned the inclusion of the wasted "nonfictional" dossier book. Why, one reviewer asks, can't there just have been more short stories?
I, conversely, am of the opinion that (a) the short stories included in this volume are solid but not particularly praiseworthy, excepting "Porcus Omnivorous", and that (b) we're supposed to read the dossier book as if it were indeed a collection of short stories. This second point is one I've thought about as I've perused the faux government documents outlining the dangers of (and potential war tactics against) countries like Iran, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. Like many good pieces of fiction, each chapter in the dossier book endeavors to achieve a specific effect in its reader, is extensively researched, and is compellingly detailed. I suspect that these briefings are better written than are most documents that come across President Bush's desk, but that's neither here nor there.
Most reviews I've read have praised the fiction but bemoaned the inclusion of the wasted "nonfictional" dossier book. Why, one reviewer asks, can't there just have been more short stories?
I, conversely, am of the opinion that (a) the short stories included in this volume are solid but not particularly praiseworthy, excepting "Porcus Omnivorous", and that (b) we're supposed to read the dossier book as if it were indeed a collection of short stories. This second point is one I've thought about as I've perused the faux government documents outlining the dangers of (and potential war tactics against) countries like Iran, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. Like many good pieces of fiction, each chapter in the dossier book endeavors to achieve a specific effect in its reader, is extensively researched, and is compellingly detailed. I suspect that these briefings are better written than are most documents that come across President Bush's desk, but that's neither here nor there.
Read
May 29, 2008i was listening to the black angels with their acoustic guitar after minutes of silence on the last track. it comes right out at you. the lyrics. "he's fighting in iraq. he's fighting in the iraq war. what for. well it was the next day. his mother got a telegram. it was addressed from iraq. oh oh."
and these books. just the books themselves. perfect facsimilies of the war editions from world war II. millions of copies were sent to soldiers overseas. and these. these remind you of that war. of that other time. of some time before. before. before. before everything seemed so fucked up. you can lay them on your table and the object itself. the war edition reminds you that there are kids. and mothers. and fathers. and teenagers fighting a war. and that alone, the reminder, is something epic. and important.
and these books. just the books themselves. perfect facsimilies of the war editions from world war II. millions of copies were sent to soldiers overseas. and these. these remind you of that war. of that other time. of some time before. before. before. before everything seemed so fucked up. you can lay them on your table and the object itself. the war edition reminds you that there are kids. and mothers. and fathers. and teenagers fighting a war. and that alone, the reminder, is something epic. and important.
March 31, 2008
I wouldn't recommend this issue as strongly as the last two. Good nonetheless. Two highlights: A gruesome and beautiful excerpt from John Brandon's novel ARKANSAS (also published by McSweeney's) which I had no plans to read until now. And the short story "How Jesus Comes" by Michael Gills, which begins, "Oh God, if there's a Jesus, let him come like the class-five honeybabe that fell on us that spring day, 1976, when Coach had us sprinting 220s around the cinder tracks, when Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way' played out the T-tops of all the jet-black Camaros as Lowman's Hardward and Grocery got hit, as did Templeton's IGA and Fred Woodhead's Feed & Seed and the slaughterhouse on the railroad track, where all the white bulls got loose and Deputy Biggs Self chased them down Main Street with the sirens blaring, fire belching out his silver-plated .45."
October 11, 2008
This issue was one of my favorites in a while. There are several very good stories (I particularly liked the two-parters by Ismet Prcic and Uzodinma Iweala, as well as stories by Stephen Smith and Garry Craig Powell). And the accompanying book called "Where to Invade Next" is suitably creepy. It plays it completely straight as it argues for American military intervention in seven new countries, and (a) revealed how troubled/potentially dangerous many places are and (b) almost fooled me into thinking some of these military strategies are good ideas. They're not, on the main, and they're neither realistic nor likely to be effective. Yet the book shows how seductive the case for military intervention in complex situations can be...
July 29, 2008
I've always said if there is one excellent story in a McSweeney's collection, then it's worth reading. Issue 26, like issue 25, gave me two excellent stories and two promising novel-excerpts. This one took me awhile to get through, probably because it comes in three volumes. I feel the need to read other materials in between each. The highlights were "Porcus Omnivorus" by Ismet Prcic, Amanda Davis's "Sleep" (Davis is someone whose writing I definitely need to check out), and excerpts from two longer pieces "The Italian Actress" by Frank Lentricchia and "Arkansas" by John Brandon. Perhaps I'll give a bit of a synopsis of these at a later point, but I got shit to do right now.
May 20, 2013
The three part issues always let me down a little. The Where to invade next thing is interesting but not very much fun to read. Also, too many of the stories are excerpts from larger books. I was also a bit annoyed by the two stories that were cut in half. I picked up the second book first and got very confused very quickly. Though to be fair, both of those stories kinda worked without their first halves.
Some good stories but I wish there had been more.
Some good stories but I wish there had been more.
April 22, 2008
The three part issues always let me down a little. The Where to invade next thing is interesting but not very much fun to read. Also, too many of the stories are excerpts from larger books. I was also a bit annoyed by the two stories that were cut in half. I picked up the second book first and got very confused very quickly. Though to be fair, both of those stories kinda worked without their first halves.
Some good stories but I wish there had been more.
Some good stories but I wish there had been more.
May 10, 2008
Ok, there were a couple stories I liked here, and I really dug the excerpt from 'Arkansas' ...but what does it say about a collection of stories when my favorite of the lot is basically an advertisement to get me to buy a novel? And yes, the third part was clever and all that, but I'd be a liar if I told you I read the whole thing. Clever is great, but not at the expense of a few hours of my reading time.
Yes, I'm being difficult and ornery.
Yes, I'm being difficult and ornery.
June 12, 2008
Where to Invade Next would be boring if the things it describes weren't so terrible. If it is meant as satire, or, as it says in the McSweeney's store, as a comment on the way propaganda can be used to justify warfare, it's not very effective, because it's all too convincing. Then again, maybe that shows just how effective it is.
The two books of short stories were superb. My favourite story was Pentimento, by Uzodinma Iweala.
The two books of short stories were superb. My favourite story was Pentimento, by Uzodinma Iweala.
February 5, 2009
I would recommend the book "Arkansas" by John Brandon, rather then buying this quarterly. There is a short excerpt from Arkansas, and you will want to buy the book anyways. The rest of this one is not as memorable.
However, I am a subscriber to McSweeney's Quarterly, and I think it is a good deal for 55 bucks a year.
However, I am a subscriber to McSweeney's Quarterly, and I think it is a good deal for 55 bucks a year.
September 19, 2008
The book I'm turning to before going to sleep at night is actually this...I started off with the tales from overseas and am now on the tales from home (which, to me, is actually overseas!). I've read 4 or more stories thus far and as always, they are enjoyable, yet thought-provoking and stay with you. Perfect for in-bed reading as they're short.
February 8, 2016
Mcsweeney's never disappoints and there was some fine stories in this collection. I really enjoyed both "Porcus Omnivorus" and "Pentimento" for their settings both here and abroad. "Charity" was gut wrenching and perfectly blue collar with one of the most touching moments in anything I have read recently.
August 5, 2008
The Stories from overseas are a bleak look at things we're missing and experiences we hope to never have, while the stories from our shores are those moments that we scoot back into the sofa an wait for.
April 17, 2008
I dislike it when McSweeneys includes witty things that aren't short stories. This month's had an informational book "Where to Invade Next" (Part 3 of the 3 part issue- 1st is Stories from Overseas, 2nd is Stories from Our Shores). I appreciate it, but won't be reading it any time soon.
April 24, 2008
The 2 dorky small-format books seem much more interesting when you learn that they're modeled after this quondam literature series published to be especially easy for soldiers at war to carry around with them.
December 11, 2008
oh well, my story is in it -- of course I love it!
June 6, 2012
Uzodinma Iweala story was good.
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