What do you think?
Rate this book
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #33
McSweeney's Issue 33: San Francisco Panorama
Issue 33 of McSweeney’s Quarterly will be a one-time-only, Sunday-edition sized newspaper—the San Francisco Panorama . It'll have news (actual news, tied to the day it comes out) and sports and arts coverage, and comics (sixteen pages of glorious, full-color comics, from Chris Ware and Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman and many others besides) and a magazine and a weekend guide, and will basically be an attempt to demonstrate all the great things print journalism can (still) do, with as much first-rate writing and reportage and design (and posters and games and on-location Antarctic travelogues) as we can get in there. Expect journalism from Andrew Sean Greer, fiction from George Saunders and Roddy Doyle, dispatches from Afghanistan, and much, much more. We're going to try to sell this thing on the street in San Francisco, but it'll also go out to our subscribers and be in bookstores all over.
320 pages, Newspaper
First published November 1, 2009
About the author
Dave Eggers
343 books9,583 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 15, 2010
The San Francisco Panorama is massive. Taking easily as long to read as a six hundred page novel, it's David Eggers's Sunday paper on steroids: an attempt to reinvision the American newspaper. As a sort of satire of a newspaper the Panorama works very well; some of the sections are thoroughly brilliant, others use the large format of the newspaper in a way typically wasted by the big dailies. Eggers, however, seems to have an idea that he has reinvented the newspaper for the 21st century, creating a sustainable way forward. Reading it reveals this as an obvious untruth, but much of the writing is still great.
I loved the Magazine pullout almost in its entirety, from a wonderful satirical essay on the bank bailout to the anniversary trip of two San Francisco men to a days-long NASCAR rally in smalltown Michigan. The walk through all of Spain got slightly more tedious, and a report on working at the South Pole provides good evidence for banning all future instances of autobiographical essay in the second person.
The books section, too, has a lot of good writing in it. And the arts section! Typically, writing about music and music reviews are unhelpful and unbearable, but here the Panorama really shines. A wonderful essay about choosing a soundtrack for a bank robbery manages the unheard of: writing well about a love of music. The format of the reviews is clever and compelling: a pie chart shows us what an album is made of, from the smell of a suburban basement to "a $13 Carlsberg." Best of all, there's a line graph of enjoyment by track, showing at a glance whether the reviewer thought it was an even or even likeable album. Pitchfork, take note! The comics section is about half delectable, half tedious.. though I admit that's entirely subjective. I'm sure other people love outer space comics.
Many of the in depth features, unfortunately, are fairly meandering, and while I found some of the sports biographies much more compelling than I expected, I was a little bored by the environmental writing I would expect to enjoy tremendously. Stephen King, of course, should not be allowed to write about sports (though I did learn that he apparently has vivid, grass-green snot, since he compares it to the Phillies' mascot.
All in all, the Panorama is a delight to read, an interesting experiment, and a thoroughly eye-catching medium. It provides some clever ideas for journalism to borrow, and serves in some cases as a cautionary tale. If American newspapers are really looking for a print format that could make them relevant to a new audience, though, I'd actually suggest the NRC.Next.
I loved the Magazine pullout almost in its entirety, from a wonderful satirical essay on the bank bailout to the anniversary trip of two San Francisco men to a days-long NASCAR rally in smalltown Michigan. The walk through all of Spain got slightly more tedious, and a report on working at the South Pole provides good evidence for banning all future instances of autobiographical essay in the second person.
The books section, too, has a lot of good writing in it. And the arts section! Typically, writing about music and music reviews are unhelpful and unbearable, but here the Panorama really shines. A wonderful essay about choosing a soundtrack for a bank robbery manages the unheard of: writing well about a love of music. The format of the reviews is clever and compelling: a pie chart shows us what an album is made of, from the smell of a suburban basement to "a $13 Carlsberg." Best of all, there's a line graph of enjoyment by track, showing at a glance whether the reviewer thought it was an even or even likeable album. Pitchfork, take note! The comics section is about half delectable, half tedious.. though I admit that's entirely subjective. I'm sure other people love outer space comics.
Many of the in depth features, unfortunately, are fairly meandering, and while I found some of the sports biographies much more compelling than I expected, I was a little bored by the environmental writing I would expect to enjoy tremendously. Stephen King, of course, should not be allowed to write about sports (though I did learn that he apparently has vivid, grass-green snot, since he compares it to the Phillies' mascot.
All in all, the Panorama is a delight to read, an interesting experiment, and a thoroughly eye-catching medium. It provides some clever ideas for journalism to borrow, and serves in some cases as a cautionary tale. If American newspapers are really looking for a print format that could make them relevant to a new audience, though, I'd actually suggest the NRC.Next.
February 21, 2010
I don't know what that says about the way people read newspapers, but this is the first McSweeney's Quarterly that's been delivered to my door that I haven't read cover to cover. (Mostly, I skipped the "Sports" section--much like in a daily--and most of the music articles.) What I did read, I really enjoyed.
I found the articles about the darker side of pot farming in North California and the spread about the violence in the Congo especially impressive. All around, excellent reporting. McSweeney's has proven they can master any medium, and the issue did manage to show just how much variety newsprint provides readers. Even papers that are targeted to one demographic has so many different types of articles, it's pretty damn amazing.
I found the articles about the darker side of pot farming in North California and the spread about the violence in the Congo especially impressive. All around, excellent reporting. McSweeney's has proven they can master any medium, and the issue did manage to show just how much variety newsprint provides readers. Even papers that are targeted to one demographic has so many different types of articles, it's pretty damn amazing.
March 23, 2018
Best newspaper I've ever read
September 19, 2011
McSweeney's 33 takes the form of a one shot newspaper called The San Francisco Panorama, about the size of a sunday paper. Besides the news section (brief), you get sections of investigative reportage, a sports section, a food section, a book review magazine, another magazine of various articles, and a comics section, all of which is presented in broadsheet fashion with two magazines inside.
There are a huge number of contributors, many of them big names. Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, writes about the value of public schools, Nicholson Baker does a piece on closed paper mills in Maine and posits the idea that they save forests more than broadband stations. China Mieville writes about how bored he is with end of the world movies and suggests a reprieve. Salman Rushdie writes about Kara Walker, an artist who works with silhouettes. There's a fantastic appreciation of J G Ballard by Geoff Nicholson which'll make you want to re-read all of Ballard's work again. Also Dave Eggers interviews Junot Diaz and Miranda July interviews James Franco.
The comics section is definitely worth a section as it's amazing. Chris Ware provides a build it yourself spacecraft for his comic strip "Rocket Sam", Dan Clowes spoofs "Lost in Space" with "The Christian Astronauts", while Alison Bechdel, Ivan Brunetti, Gene Luen Yang, Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deith, and Seth all provide strips. It's a definite highlight to an already gobsmackingly brilliant issue.
The fiction in this issue, the reason why McSweeney's was created, is few at only 4 short stories by George Saunders, Seth Fried, the actor James Franco, and Roddy Doyle. Ironically, they're not that great except the always great Roddy Doyle who supplies a great story about a homeless Polish man and his friend who win the lottery.
The best thing about this issue is the nonfiction. Investigative reporting on environmental degradation in California by Jesse Nathan, the cover story on the enormous new bridge being built in San Francisco and it's impact by Patricia Decker and Robert Porterfield, romance novels' cover men, an article on NASCAR racing, Sarah Palin's lack of ethics, film distribution, a playwright's fight against Wells Fargo to save a family from foreclosure, a 500 mile pilgrimage in South America, and a 5 month stint in Antartica for a local Oakland resident are all amazing.
There's so much here I've barely cracked the surface in the review. I didn't read all of it, particularly sports as I've no interest in American football, basketball, or baseball, though Stephen King provides a massive article, wonderfully illustrated, about the 2009 World Series. But basically, there's so much here, so well done, there's something for everyone.
Created over a year, this is McSweeney's most ambitious and best production yet. It continues to be a shining example of the relevance of the arts in the modern world and sustains a high level of creativity and imagination. You'll never read a newspaper with so much world class talent in one production, it's really amazing. In the mood to read something different? This is the one for you.
There are a huge number of contributors, many of them big names. Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, writes about the value of public schools, Nicholson Baker does a piece on closed paper mills in Maine and posits the idea that they save forests more than broadband stations. China Mieville writes about how bored he is with end of the world movies and suggests a reprieve. Salman Rushdie writes about Kara Walker, an artist who works with silhouettes. There's a fantastic appreciation of J G Ballard by Geoff Nicholson which'll make you want to re-read all of Ballard's work again. Also Dave Eggers interviews Junot Diaz and Miranda July interviews James Franco.
The comics section is definitely worth a section as it's amazing. Chris Ware provides a build it yourself spacecraft for his comic strip "Rocket Sam", Dan Clowes spoofs "Lost in Space" with "The Christian Astronauts", while Alison Bechdel, Ivan Brunetti, Gene Luen Yang, Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deith, and Seth all provide strips. It's a definite highlight to an already gobsmackingly brilliant issue.
The fiction in this issue, the reason why McSweeney's was created, is few at only 4 short stories by George Saunders, Seth Fried, the actor James Franco, and Roddy Doyle. Ironically, they're not that great except the always great Roddy Doyle who supplies a great story about a homeless Polish man and his friend who win the lottery.
The best thing about this issue is the nonfiction. Investigative reporting on environmental degradation in California by Jesse Nathan, the cover story on the enormous new bridge being built in San Francisco and it's impact by Patricia Decker and Robert Porterfield, romance novels' cover men, an article on NASCAR racing, Sarah Palin's lack of ethics, film distribution, a playwright's fight against Wells Fargo to save a family from foreclosure, a 500 mile pilgrimage in South America, and a 5 month stint in Antartica for a local Oakland resident are all amazing.
There's so much here I've barely cracked the surface in the review. I didn't read all of it, particularly sports as I've no interest in American football, basketball, or baseball, though Stephen King provides a massive article, wonderfully illustrated, about the 2009 World Series. But basically, there's so much here, so well done, there's something for everyone.
Created over a year, this is McSweeney's most ambitious and best production yet. It continues to be a shining example of the relevance of the arts in the modern world and sustains a high level of creativity and imagination. You'll never read a newspaper with so much world class talent in one production, it's really amazing. In the mood to read something different? This is the one for you.
January 17, 2015
Excerpt from What I’ve Been Reading: The San Francisco Panorama (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Issue 33)
"And now, A list of the best things in the San Francisco Panorama (not including the Panorama Magazine or the entire Panorama Book Review, both of which I haven’t even finished reading.)
• “The Tragedy of Mendocino” by Jesse Nathan, about California’s Emerald Triangle and its hidden and environmentally dangerous marijuana trade.
• “Golden State: Transition Basketball” by Free Darko
• “On the World Series” by Stephen King (including a fantastic retro Converse ad on the back page)
• “Living With a Yellow Dwarf” monster two-page infographic on the unusually quiet solar cycle
• The Death Cab for Cutie infographic
• Let’s face it: EVERY infographic
• “Can a Paper Mill Save a Forest?” by Nicholson Baker, about the possibility that digital information may be harder on the environment than paper
• “KPOO,” by Chinaka Hodge, on San Francisco’s long running independent radio station, KPOO
• The Comics (which, on their own, retail for $10) including Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman and Erik Larsen
• “The End, The End, The End, Etcetera,” by China Mieville, about the overabundance of movies about the apocalypse
• “The Desperate Art of DVD Covers,” by Moze Halperin, on the difference between marketing and art as it relates to film posters and their respective DVD covers
• “I Participate in TV Studio Audiences,” by Kevin Collier, a mini-memoir about jumping from studio audience to studio audience, from Maury to Paula Deen.
• The Food Section, which includes stories like “Water: A Road Trip” by Lisa M. Hamilton, about once-fertile California farmland now rendered useless thanks to a drougt-imposed restriction on aquaduct water; “Lambchetta in 58 Steps” by Ryan Farr, on knowing, slaughtering and cooking a lamb from beginning to end; and “Roadkill Stew” by L. E. Leone, on hitting a deer – and then cooking it."
"And now, A list of the best things in the San Francisco Panorama (not including the Panorama Magazine or the entire Panorama Book Review, both of which I haven’t even finished reading.)
• “The Tragedy of Mendocino” by Jesse Nathan, about California’s Emerald Triangle and its hidden and environmentally dangerous marijuana trade.
• “Golden State: Transition Basketball” by Free Darko
• “On the World Series” by Stephen King (including a fantastic retro Converse ad on the back page)
• “Living With a Yellow Dwarf” monster two-page infographic on the unusually quiet solar cycle
• The Death Cab for Cutie infographic
• Let’s face it: EVERY infographic
• “Can a Paper Mill Save a Forest?” by Nicholson Baker, about the possibility that digital information may be harder on the environment than paper
• “KPOO,” by Chinaka Hodge, on San Francisco’s long running independent radio station, KPOO
• The Comics (which, on their own, retail for $10) including Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman and Erik Larsen
• “The End, The End, The End, Etcetera,” by China Mieville, about the overabundance of movies about the apocalypse
• “The Desperate Art of DVD Covers,” by Moze Halperin, on the difference between marketing and art as it relates to film posters and their respective DVD covers
• “I Participate in TV Studio Audiences,” by Kevin Collier, a mini-memoir about jumping from studio audience to studio audience, from Maury to Paula Deen.
• The Food Section, which includes stories like “Water: A Road Trip” by Lisa M. Hamilton, about once-fertile California farmland now rendered useless thanks to a drougt-imposed restriction on aquaduct water; “Lambchetta in 58 Steps” by Ryan Farr, on knowing, slaughtering and cooking a lamb from beginning to end; and “Roadkill Stew” by L. E. Leone, on hitting a deer – and then cooking it."
November 10, 2010
An interesrting epilogue to the American newspaper, a somewhat obvious reaction to the SF Chronicle’s precipitous decline. This “paper” possesses some great articles, but some so important as to be damaged by this throwaway format. A prime example is Jesse Nathan’s “The Tragedy of Mendocino,” which should be required reading for California voters deciding whether further decriminalization of marijuana is wise or not. Not because the article masks an opinion of some kind but because it examines issues that most California voters are blind to…But it is not available online, so I can’t link to it on Facebook, so who is going to read it? Sad but true. At least the decimated Chronicle publishes online so that what little investigative journalism they do undertake is available to the masses.
Now I come from a place where the community paper has managed to remain vibrant and invested in the community - Riverside - the heart of darkness. They managed this by being early adopters to the internet, understanding that their paper doesn't serve just the city, but the multitudinous suburbs beyond and doing low budget local stories that actually mean something. Sure they don't have foreign correspondants, but at least they know Temecula from Temescal Valley. In other words they approach their community as a network of places as opposed to a place. Personally I'm never going to read the Chronicle because it will never understand the North Bay - but I am hardly going to read the Napa Valley Register because it will only take the most cursory examination of the facts.
Now I come from a place where the community paper has managed to remain vibrant and invested in the community - Riverside - the heart of darkness. They managed this by being early adopters to the internet, understanding that their paper doesn't serve just the city, but the multitudinous suburbs beyond and doing low budget local stories that actually mean something. Sure they don't have foreign correspondants, but at least they know Temecula from Temescal Valley. In other words they approach their community as a network of places as opposed to a place. Personally I'm never going to read the Chronicle because it will never understand the North Bay - but I am hardly going to read the Napa Valley Register because it will only take the most cursory examination of the facts.
February 9, 2010
Bravo. This one-off Sunday Newspaper prototype represents an aspirational view of what our media could be, if only...
That said: It's clearly not sustainable as a daily or even weekly, and its elements point toward it being, at best, a 4x/year-type special edition such as McSweeney's actually is. But it seems to be a look both forward and backward--a merger of the auto-show ''concept car" ('hey, look how cool your future could be, if you just get on... See More board!') and a nostalgic epitaph for a dead media-economics model.
Every section--from Sports to Arts to the 96pg Book Review--has been conceived with fresh eyes. Articles are unfailingly well executed, entertaining, and enlightening. And most impressively for a newspaper produced by a literary outfit: It represents the highest standards of journalism, in terms of accuracy, fairness (not the same as even-handedness), and dogged reportage.
I have begun collecting the last issues of dead newspapers, such as the Rocky Mountain News. For balance, this one must be a keeper as well: it could be called The Phoenix.
That said: It's clearly not sustainable as a daily or even weekly, and its elements point toward it being, at best, a 4x/year-type special edition such as McSweeney's actually is. But it seems to be a look both forward and backward--a merger of the auto-show ''concept car" ('hey, look how cool your future could be, if you just get on... See More board!') and a nostalgic epitaph for a dead media-economics model.
Every section--from Sports to Arts to the 96pg Book Review--has been conceived with fresh eyes. Articles are unfailingly well executed, entertaining, and enlightening. And most impressively for a newspaper produced by a literary outfit: It represents the highest standards of journalism, in terms of accuracy, fairness (not the same as even-handedness), and dogged reportage.
I have begun collecting the last issues of dead newspapers, such as the Rocky Mountain News. For balance, this one must be a keeper as well: it could be called The Phoenix.
March 20, 2010
My favorite issue of McSweeney's ever. The newspaper format allowed it to do so many things, and so many of them well, that just -- wow. Really, really great stuff. I read it extremely thoroughly, though I have to admit I did skip one (very graphic) two-page photo spread of the butchering of a lamb. Some highlight include great short stories by George Saunders (this one especially) and Roddy Doyle, a number of beautiful comics and generally-gorgeous, large-scale art, a handy guide to how to pronounce authors' names, a nifty anecdote about Charlie Chaplin (he once finished third when he discreetly entered a Chaplin lookalike contest? awesome), some cool interviews, great stories about NASCAR and mortgage foreclosure and ultraorthodox Jews and walking across Spain and the longest-burning underground coal fire in America and Antarctica and growing pot in California, and so many other things (I loved the range of it all most of all).
I recommend this one very highly.
I recommend this one very highly.
June 14, 2010
This issue of McSweeney's was absolutely monstrous and took me forever to read. Fortunately, a great deal of it was fantastic. Highlights include the travelogue about backpacking through Spain, Roddy Doyle's short story, James Franco's short story, the pot in CA story, the whole food section, the bridge story and basically the whole book review magazine. Lots of great stuff and relatively few fails (though the mining company story was basically unbearable).
My only really concern is that the issue failed in its primary objective. If you're trying to prove how valuable newspapers are and how they can't be allowed to fail, you can't create such a massive tome. In a world where people are turning to the internet to provide them fast news, this issue took months to read cover to cover. The content was great, but I can't imagine reading multiple issues of such breadth. It was exhausting.
My only really concern is that the issue failed in its primary objective. If you're trying to prove how valuable newspapers are and how they can't be allowed to fail, you can't create such a massive tome. In a world where people are turning to the internet to provide them fast news, this issue took months to read cover to cover. The content was great, but I can't imagine reading multiple issues of such breadth. It was exhausting.
January 12, 2010
I don't think McSweeney's achieved their goal, here. The included magazines were nice, and the entire thing is pretty. But none of the reporting felt deeply investigative or professional, with meandering stories and unclear conclusions the norm. The paper mill piece is probably the worst example, and the headline bridge piece probably was the strongest, though in need of more aggressive editing.
Really, it left me wishing the effort had gone towards more fiction and a "normal" issue.
[Unrelated to my overall impression, this vegetarian found the entire food section a bit disgusting.:]
Really, it left me wishing the effort had gone towards more fiction and a "normal" issue.
[Unrelated to my overall impression, this vegetarian found the entire food section a bit disgusting.:]
April 21, 2010
My cousin loaned me this very giant McSweeney's experiment in the world of newspapers. It took me awhile, but I finally managed to plow through the whole thing. Particularly strong sections included the comics, the book review section (especially the short story "Fox 8" by George Saunders which was great), and the Panorama Magazine. Excellent journalism throughout, although I don't have a lot of newspaper-as-a-format love, so I disagree that the giant size was necessary as a vehicle for the content. Beautifully designed and nicely printed, but difficult to curl up in bed with.
October 23, 2010
The fact that it took the Mcsweeneys crew a year to put this together just shows how important and powerful the newspaper industry could be again if there were more of those people working all over the world, collaborating to provide something like this every single day. It could happen, but we as a society demand cheap and even free information, which is not sustainable for the newspaper industry. I would have paid 16 dollars for 'Fox 8' by George Saunders alone (which is not journalistic, but so great).
May 23, 2010
At least as big as a Sunday Times, this issue of McSweeney's landed on my doorstep last fall and still has yet to leave my reading desk. (I don't really have a reading desk, but you know what I mean.) I'm not going to attempt to describe it all (although the book review or the comics section alone would already beat practically anything on your newsstand); suffice to say this is a remarkable bit of publishing that, a few years from now, we might look back on and realize we weren't grateful enough for.
January 27, 2010
I totally enjoyed this issue of McSweeney's. I have only two complaints 1.) It was way too locally (SF) focused for a national publication. Seemingly more so than even the NY Times. 2.) The conceit that the publication was "showing what newspapers can do" (or something like that) is bullshit. It took them a year to put it together and then they charged $16 for it. But seriously, worth ever penny--especially for the literary magazine insert.
Read
August 3, 2010A lot about SF's new bridge. A lot about big growers in the San Fernando valley. Have not been as taken by the fiction, but then I don't read it in the New Yorker (which is too middle brow) or Harper's (which is about my brow), so maybe its a user problem. But above all I have learned that DE can conceive and carry out a worthy idea which we all know someone ought to do, but no one does it. He may be our King of Cats.
January 2, 2010
Amazing. Exactly what McSweeney's Quarterly longs to live up in each of its issues. The depth and expanse of content here is nothing short of spectacular.
Read
December 31, 2009A great big, fat Sunday newspaper full of great writing and impressive design.
March 8, 2010
the pages are so big! i think too big, but the writing and the fun of it is, well, fun.
March 6, 2010
This was, I think, the most daunting issue of McSweeney's ever.
July 16, 2014
Amazing.
June 14, 2010
so cool...
Read
October 13, 2010Oh my lord, this is going to keep me busy for a while but it all so, so good! And I am not just saying this as a shameless McSweeney's devotee. You too should buy a $16 newspaper.
May 3, 2010
Hahaha "What I learned from this book" hahaha
January 24, 2012
This is just indescribably marvellous, still easy to purchase and very reasonably priced considering the massive amount of work in this issue of McSweeney's! Perfect holiday reading and so, so cute!
May 26, 2010
An opulent return of the broadsheet newspaper. Consider this a hymn to print journalism.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews