Discover the real truth behind the original fake news with this in-depth history of beloved humor publication,The Onion.

In 1988, a band of University of WisconsinMadison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other than You Are Dumb. Just wanting to make a few bucks, they wound up becoming the bedrock of modern satire over the course of twenty years, changing the way we consume both our comedy and our news.The Onionserved as a hilarious and brutally perceptive satire of the absurdity and horrors of late twentieth-century American life and grew into a global phenomenon. Now, for the first time, the full history of the publication is told by one of its original staffers, author and historian Christine Wenc. Through dozens of interviews, Wenc chartsThe Onions rise, its position as one of the first online humor sites, and the way it influenced television programs likeThe Daily ShowandThe Colbert Report.Funny Because Its Truereveals how a group of young misfits from flyover country unintentionally created a cultural phenomenon.