This seems simple, but I've been stymied for a couple days. I have three
tables with news articles. The tables themselves are structured identically.
Each article in these tables has a date.

I want to pull the 10 latest items (by date) from the 3 tables. I only want
10 items, and I want the latest ones (regardless of which table they came
from).

SELECT * FROM table1, table2, table3 ORDER BY date ASC LIMIT 10

...but that query doesn't work.

Is there another way I can do it... or will I need to resort to pulling the
10 latest from each of the 3 tables and then comparing them in PHP?

I never try this in mysql but in ms sql u can use union eg.
select * from table1 union
select * from table2 union
select * from table3 limit 10

take note : u should have the same fields in ur tables.

Hmmm... do you know where would the ORDER BY directive fit in?

Ah... got it.

select * from table1 union
select * from table2 union
select * from table3
order by date desc limit 10

...perfect. Thanks so much!

select * from table1 union
select * from table2 union
select * from table3 order by fieldname asc limit 10

Ok i mention earlier that i never use this in mysql only the union fucntion. Sory for not mentioning that one.