Notes from the Underground: The Most Outrageous Stories from the Alternative Press

by Steve Almond and Nancy Armstrong

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596090081
• ISBN13: 9781596090088
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Chamberlain Brothers
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A good collection of alternative weekly journalism from around the country

If you're like me, and love the stories inside those alternative newsweeklies in major cities (Village Voice, the Stranger, Chicago Reader, Phoenix New Times, etc.), then you'll like this book. It's a collection of some of the best writing from those outlets. But it is journalism and as the years go on, some of the writing can seem dated. If you are an alt-weekly fan, or perhaps a journalist thinking of going that route, then you're much better served by logging on to AAN.COM and looking up the winners of their annual awards. Bottom Line: Get this at the library or search for the articles online, but don't spend the money on the book.

collection= versatility and uniqueness

I am studying to become a writer and would prefer to remain in the alternative media, thus, I thought reading this book would help me to understand the topics and style of alternative writing. I did enjoy this book for the most part. There are articles that I think I wouldn't have read if they were in the paper, yet there were some that blew me away. For example, a survivor of child-molestation confronts his molester in adult hood. It's an intense and brave piece. However, it is a collection so it is presumable that the variety chosen by the editors was to attract as many readers as possible, therefore some articles were of little interest to me. Overall a pleasant read and would/will recommend to my fellow wannabe-writers...

A good book but not "outrageous"

This book is a collection of 22 features that originally appeared in various "alternative press" publications between 2002 and 2004. The stories for the most part are well written and interesting. But they hardly seem to match the title's description as being "outrageous", "alternative" or "underground". Most of them wouldn't have been out of place in any mainstream publication. There are some exceptions; Barbara Solow's "Academia Under Seige" and Dan Savage's "Dope" both were written with an openly partisan stance and Greg Tate's "Hip-Hop Turns 30" was too poorly written to have gone mainstream. But the other articles feature subjects like a profile of New York's last executioner, a fraud case in a Texan cemetary, or history of Ultimate Fighting. So if you're looking for some good human interest pieces, I'd recommend this book. However, if you're looking for something "edgy" you might want to look elsewhere.