Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 99

1. CBQ REVIEW ESSAY: Editorial/Political Cartoons

by Christopher H. Sterling

Editorial or political cartoons (what my elder daughter referred to as ‘‘poli-tickle’’ cartoons

when she was little, showing considerable insight) have a long history here and elsewhere.
This essay review surveys the literature on the topic—with the large exception of collections
of cartoons themselves. There are oodles of the latter, some dealing with the work of one
person, or a period or even an issue. Instead, the focus here is on books that provide some
context to and analysis of the art of such cartooning. Or, if you will, these are the serious
(most of them) books about a satirical and often funny art form.
The essay appears in four parts. The first includes a variety of reference sources, some
ranging over the whole history of political/editorial cartooning. A sample of reference websites
is also here—some websites are updated several times a day. The second includes survey
histories and broad general treatments of the topic for American cartooning. The third centers
on editorial cartoons from abroad. Again, there are albums of cartoons relating to all of these
topics, but they are not included here unless there is some text to provide context and, ideally,
analysis.
The last section provides some of the books (again, excluding albums of cartoons) about
individual cartoonists past and present, including some autobiographies. Some of these folks
helped define issues for decades and had considerable impact—Herbert Block (‘‘Herblock’’)
comes to mind from his half-century at the Washington Post, or, decades earlier, ‘‘Ding’’ Darling.
Of course the granddaddy of all American political cartoonists was the 19th century’s Thomas
Nast, who gave us, among other symbols, the Republican elephant and the Democrat’s donkey.
Among my personal favorites (in addition to Herblock) are David Low (1891–1963), Paul
Conrad (1924–2010), and Pat Oliphant (born 1935).
This is still a relatively new field as far as serious academic research is concerned. The
shelf of critical or analytical books is pretty thin given the impact such drawings can have—
and have had for a long time. A relative handful of such analytic titles exist, even counting
older books (for example, the very last title discussed in this essay). We have better access
to current cartooning (see the several websites noted in the first section here) than we do
any real context for cartooning as a profession or as an ongoing aspect of journalism. Or is it
ongoing? The pressure on print periodicals is already reducing the impact of the cartoonists
who’ve depended on regular print publication for generations.

A. Reference

44:249
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Ohio State University Libraries, 27 West 17th
Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1343, cartoons@osu.edu) is the largest academic research
collection, and although the collections’ mission includes more than editorial/political car-
toons, it is a collection and research resource of considerable importance. It began in 1977
with a donation from cartoonist Milton Caniff and has continued to grow. With the univer-
sity press, it plans to produce a series of books in a ‘‘Studies in Comics and Cartoons’’ series.
For several years, it published Inks: Cartoons and Comic Art Studies edited by Lucy Shelton
100 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

Caswell, founding curator of the collection. The collections include a full run of Target: The
Political Cartoon Quarterly, published in 24 issues from 1981 to 1986, and edited by Richard
Samuel West. See the website cartoons.osu.edu/about-us for further information.

44:250
British Cartoon Archive [website]
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/ is housed at the University of Kent in Canterbury, and was first
known (it was established in 1973) as the Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature.
Quoting from its home page: ‘‘It has a library, archive, and exhibition gallery, and is dedicated
to the history of British cartooning over the last two hundred years. The BCA holds the
artwork for more than 150,000 British editorial, sociopolitical, and pocket cartoons, supported
by large collections of comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines. The collection
of artwork dates back to 1904 and includes work by W. K. Haselden, Will Dyson, Sidney
Strube, David Low, Vicky, Emmwood, Michael Cummings, Ralph Steadman, Mel Calman,
Nicholas Garland, Chris Riddell, Carl Giles, Martin Rowson, and Steve Bell, amongst many
others.’’

44:251
Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 2013 edited by Charles Brooks Jr. and Steve Kelley
(Gretna, LA: Pelican Books, 2012—$14.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-45561-776-0, 208 pp.) is the
latest volume in a series that has appeared annually for more than four decades. The full
collection (it’s now pretty hard to find some of the early ones) provides a fine record of
what’s appeared in American papers each year. The selection is wide as to topics covered
(each year’s collection is arranged into sections focused on major stories during the previous
year) and the cartoonists included. Brooks, a former president of the American Association of
Editorial Cartoonists, edited the series from its inception in 1972 through last year’s edition
that was published shortly after he died. See also Turnbloom, below.

44:252
The Best Political Cartoons of the Year edited by Daryl Cagle and Brian Fairrington (Indi-
anapolis, IN: Que Publishing, 2005–2010, annual [data for 2008 edition], ISBN 978-0-7897-
3655-0, 282 pp., cartoons, artist index) is apparently no longer issued, but available information
is unclear on that point. The editors, both cartoonists (see information on Cagle in the next
entry), break their information into topical sections some of which center on specific people.
Two to five cartoons appear on each page. The book is based on material from the website
discussed next.

44:253
Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index [website]
http://www.cagle.com/ is a substantial and constantly updated site with oodles of cartoons by a
wide variety of cartoonists. One can review highlights of the past decade, a year at a time, or
look at a host of topical sections with cartoons from many sources. This provides a good sense
of what is being done across the country today. Material was for several years also presented
in hard copy in the annual series noted in the previous entry. Cagle notes that only about
100 cartoonists are now employed fulltime in the country’s newspapers, and that many others
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 101

have lost their posts in recent years with the crisis in newspaper publishing. Cagle does his
own editorial cartooning on MSNBC.

44:254
Editorial Cartoon Awards, 1922–1997: From Rollin Kirby and Edmund Duffy to Herbert
Block and Paul Conrad edited by Heinz-Dietrich Fischer (New York: K. G. Saur ‘‘Pulitzer
Prize Archive, Vol. 13’’ 1999—$147.00, ISBN 978-3-5983-0183-4, 307 pp., index) presents,
after an overall introduction, the prize-winning cartoons and brief interpretation of each of
them to provide context for the changing times and issues. Fischer is a professor emeritus at
the Ruhr University of Bochum in Germany. For a more recent view from the same author,
see next entry.

44:255
Political Caricatures on Global Issues: Pulitzer Prize Winning Editorial Cartoons by Heinz-
Dietrich Fischer (Berlin: Lit Verlag ‘‘Pulitzer Prize Panorama, Vol. 4,’’ 2012—$134.95, paper,
ISBN 978-3-6439-0222-1, 224 pp., cartoons, index) may be a revision of the book above—
we were unable to examine a copy to determine for sure. The annual Pulitzer juror selection
processes are explained on the basis of jury reports. Each award winner is portrayed in a
biographical sketch together with a reprint of one of his cartoons.

44:256
Animation, Caricature, and Gag and Political Cartoons in the United States and Canada:
An International Bibliography by John Lent (Westport Ct: Greenwood ‘‘Bibliographies and
Indexes in Popular Culture,’’ 1994—$115.00, ISBN 978-0-313-28681-0, 440 pp., index) in-
cludes citations on animation, caricature, gag, illustrative, magazine, and political cartoons
in the United States and Canada. Reflecting the substantial growth of comic art literature,
it includes various types of publications, writing formats and styles, and languages from all
over the world. Organized with meticulous detail (Lent has issued many reference books),
the work includes an annotated directory of 66 comic art-related periodicals; a section of
comic art functions, activities, and relationships with various sociocultural phenomena, such
as education, eroticism, ethnicity, race, social consciousness, and violence; as well as historical
and contemporary parts on animation, caricature, gag cartoons, and political cartoons. More
than 200 animators, caricaturists, and cartoonists are singled out for special prominence. Busi-
ness, legal, and technical aspects of each genre make up other categories. To further help the
user, the indices are systematically broken down by authors, cartoonists, characters and titles,
periodicals, and subjects. Lent was then and remains on the faculty at Temple University
in Philadelphia. He is also one of the world authorities on this topic—there will be many
citations here not included in the present short review essay.

44:257
New Editorial Cartoons Daily [website]
http://www.gocomics.com/explore/editorials is another site for keeping track of what’s being done
today : : : it can be searched by cartoonist’s name, political slant, for international work, or
for Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoons. It is updated daily—multiple times, in fact, to show some
of the latest work being done.
102 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

44:258
Political Cartoon Society [website]
http://www.original-political-cartoon.com/ is another British site, thus offering a good entry point
for the cast of British editorial cartoonists for the national and some regional papers. It also
includes work done in Australia and the United States. It offers a long list of current and
out-of-print books by and about cartoonists for sale, copies of individual cartoons, and even
political ceramics. But you need not buy anything or join (though they encourage that) to
use the site and see what’s on offer.

44:259
Pulitzer Prizes: Editorial Cartooning [website]
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Editorial-Cartooning is the official site and includes the winners
(and for recent years—since 1980—the runners-up as well) and their cited work. For the
winners, information includes a biography, some of the winner’s work (and there can be more
than one each year), and the jury that made the decision. This award was first given in 1922,
so there is a lot here.

44:260
Editorial Cartooning and Caricature: A Reference Guide by Paul Somers (Westport, CT:
Greenwood ‘‘American Popular Culture,’’ 1998—$101.95, ISBN 978-0-313-22150-7, 224 pp.,
appendices, references, index) traces the historical background of editorial cartooning and
presents works that chronicle the history and criticize the aesthetics of the art. It also describes
anthologies and exhibition catalogs that reprint editorial cartoons, and provides a list of
libraries, museums, and historical societies in no less than 36 states which house originals
and photocopies or clippings of editorial cartoons. Somers examines the American editorial
cartoon from its beginnings in 1747 into the second Clinton administration. His reference
guide studies the evolution of editorial cartooning and places it in its historical context and
provides appreciation and criticism of the cartoons presented. In addition to political cartoons,
underground, radical, and propaganda cartoons are also discussed. Appendixes offer important
cross-reference tools such as a chronology and include listings of selected historical periodicals,
theses, and dissertations covering political cartoons.

44:261
Today’s Political Cartoons [website]
http://editorialcartoonists.com/ is the official site of the American Association of Editorial Car-
toonists. In addition to association news and events, it includes ways of accessing cartoons by
topic, cartoons for use in classrooms, and other options.

44:262
Prizewinning Political Cartoons edited by Dean Turnbloom (Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2012 [and
earlier annual editions]—$19.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-45561-611-4, 112 pp., cartoons) includes
the top cartoons of the year—winners of various competitions, and the like. Each one is paired
with background information on the artist. Turnbloom is a cartoonist—and a former defense
contractor and navy officer (where having a sense of humor was doubtless useful). See also,
Brooks and Kelley, above.
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 103

B. History—United States

44:263
The American Presidency in Political Cartoons, 1776–1976 by Thomas C. Blaisdell, Jr. and
Peter Selz (Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1976—out of print, paper, ISBN 978-0-8790-
5027-6, 278 pp., index) was the exhibit catalog for a travelling exhibition around the country.
More than 150 penetrating political cartoons illustrated the watchful eye America’s artists and
caricaturists have focused on presidents. Some of the artists included are Peter Arno, Clifford
Berryman, Robert Carter, Paul Conrad, Homer Davenport, Jules Fieffer, Herbert Johnson,
Joseph Keppler, Thomas Nast, Ben Shahn, and even Andy Warhol.

44:264
The Art of Ill Will: The Story of American Political Cartoons by Donald Dewey (New York:
New York University Press, 2008—$65.00/26.00, ISBN 978-0-8147-1985-5 hard, 978-0-8147-
2015-8 paper, 264 pp., index) uses some 200 examples to trace the story over as many years.
Among those included: Benjamin Franklin (whose ‘‘Join, or Die’’ picture of a snake in pieces
was the first American political cartoon), the astoundingly prolific Thomas Nast (see the
last part of this essay review for more titles on him and his work), Puck magazine founder
Joseph Keppler, Adalbert Volck, suffragist Laura Foster, Uncle Sam creator James Montgomery
Flagg, Theodore Geisel departing from his Dr. Seuss persona to tackle World War II, Herbert
‘‘Herblock’’ Block (who so enraged Richard Nixon that the president canceled his subscription
to Block’s employer, the Washington Post), Daniel Fitzpatrick, Jules Feiffer, Paul Conrad of
the Los Angeles Times, and Gary Trudeau.

44:265
Editorial Cartoons by Kids (Madison, WI: Zino Press/Knowledge Unlimited, 1989–2001 [an-
nual]—out of print, paper, various ISBNs, 150–200 pp., cartoons) was a series that for a dozen
years highlighted the often amazingly creative editorial cartoons by young children. The editors
varied from year to year as did, of course, the topics covered.

44:266
Political Cartoons in the 1988 Presidential Campaign: Image, Metaphor and Narrative by
Janis L. Edwards (New York: Routledge ‘‘Garland Studies in American Popular History and
Culture,’’ 1997—$143.00, ISBN 978-0-815-32858-2, 184 pp., photos, appendix, bibliography,
index) is an expansion of the author’s dissertation. It is a study of the cartoon as narrative,
and demonstrates how truly complex seemingly simply cartoons can be as well as how they
relate to campaign characters and issues. It’s odd that other campaigns have not also been
assessed this way.

44:267
Them Damned Pictures: Explorations in American Political Cartoon Art by Roger A. Fischer
(North Haven, CT: Archon Books/Shoestring Press, 1995—out of print, ISBN 978-0-2080-
2298-1, 253 pp., index) is an anthology of nine original scholarly papers on the content and
role of political cartoons past and present. A member of the University of Minnesota-Duluth
history and American studies departments, Fischer begins with his own essay on late 19th
104 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

century cartoonist Thomas Nast (from whence comes the book’s title—what New York City
‘‘Boss’’ William Tweed had to say of Nast’s work). The book melds the actual cartoons and
scholarly assessments of them.

44:268
American Political Cartoons 1754–2010: The Evolution of a National Identity by Stephen
Hess and Sandy Northrop (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2010 [rev ed]—$24.95, paper,
ISBN 978-1-4128-1119-4, 203 pp., index) recounts many cartoon ‘‘direct hits’’ on their targets,
recalling the discomfort of those targets—and the delight of their readers. Through a combi-
nation of pictures and words, cartoonists galvanize public opinion for or against their subjects.
In the process they have revealed truths about the democratic system that have been both
embarrassing and ennobling. Hess and Northrop note that not all cartoonists have worn white
hats. Many have perpetuated demeaning ethnic stereotypes, slandered honest politicians, or
oversimplified complex issues.
Hess is a senior fellow emeritus at Brookings, while Northrop has been with public broad-
casting for several decades. [The gist of this book first appeared as The Ungentlemanly Art: A
History of American Political Cartoons by Hess and Milton Kaplan, New York: Macmillan,
1968, 253 pp.]

44:269
Editorial and Political Cartooning from the Earliest Times to the Present by Syd Hoff (New
York: Stravon Educational Press, 1976—out of print, ISBN 978-0-87396-078-6, 416 pp., illus.,
index) sees a cartoonist (for years he also authored books for children) review his trade with
hundreds of examples from scores of cartoonists past and present.

44:270
The Lines Are Drawn: American Life Since the First World War as Reflected in the Pulitzer
Prize Cartoons by Gerald W. Johnson (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1958—out of print, no ISBN,
224 pp.) tells the story of the first 35 years of the Pulitzer cartooning prize, beginning in 1922
(five years after the other prizes). Each is reproduced full-page, with an essay relating the
context of the cartoon and background of the artist.

44:271
Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons by Chris Lamb (New York:
Columbia University Press, 2004—$75.00, ISBN 978-0-231-13066-0, 281 pp., notes, index) is
one of the relatively few volumes in this essay that is all about the text, at least as much as the
dozens of reproduced cartoons (not all of which were published in newspapers due to concern
about their content). Lamb, at the College of Charleston (South Carolina), based his volume
on his dissertation. As the publisher puts it: ‘‘Editorial cartoons have been called the most
extreme form of criticism society will allow, but not all cartoons are tolerated. Unrestricted by
journalistic standards of objectivity, editorial cartoonists wield ire and irony to reveal the naked
truths about presidents, celebrities, business leaders, and other public figures. Today, however,
many syndicated cartoons are relatively generic and gag-related, reflecting a weakening of the
newspaper industry’s traditional watchdog function.’’
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 105

44:272
Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War by J. G. Lewin and P. J. Huff
(New York: Harper/Collins, 2007—$19.95, paper, ISBN 0-06-113788-X, 212 pp., index) is a
Smithsonian Institution exhibit book that shows and describes humorous, clever, and scathing
editorial cartoons from publications such as Harper’s Weekly, Vanity Fair, Punch, and Leslie’s
Illustrated to illuminate the social, political, and cultural climate of Civil War—Era America.
The cartoons have been pulled from both sides, Union and Confederate, and provide insight
into the incidents and opinions surrounding the war as well as the mind-sets and actions of
all the major figures.

44:273
Politics, Ink: How Cartoonists Skewer America’s Politicians from George III to George
Dubya by Edward J. Lordan (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005—$20.05, paper,
ISBN 978-0-7425-3638-8, 208 pp., index) tells the story of the American political cartoon,
from its origins over 250 years ago to today. Lordan, who teaches communication at West
Chester University near Philadelphia, provides a tour of artists, politics, media, American
society, and the technology of cartooning, including the work of Benjamin Franklin, Paul
Revere, Currier & Ives, Thomas Nast, Dr. Seuss, Pat Oliphant, Draper Hill, Tom Toles, Ted
Rall, Mike Keefe, and others. Interviews with a selection of political cartoonists go behind the
art form, to show how and why we respond to editorial cartoons as well as what syndication
and the Internet mean to the future of political cartooning.

44:274
Lines of Attack: Conflicts in Caricature edited by Neil McWilliam (Durham, NC: Duke
University Press, 2010—$18.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-938989-32-5, 86 pp.) is a catalogue from
a campus exhibition developed by the author, an art professor at Duke. The exhibit and
the catalog raise broad questions about the nature of political caricature by juxtaposing two
periods in the development of the medium: its emergence in France in the 1830s as artists
ridiculed King Louis-Philippe, and its use 160 years later during the presidencies of Bill Clin-
ton and George W. Bush. Four contributors assess the state of caricature when traditional
outlets for the political cartoonist’s art—particularly the daily newspaper—face an uncertain
economic future, and technological change is radically transforming the media landscape that
has sustained journalistic caricature for almost two centuries. The essays also discuss develop-
ment of caricature as a journalistic form, its changing visual language, and its effectiveness in
commenting on politics and instigating both debate and dissent.

44:275
Populist Cartoons: An Illustrated History of the Third Party Movement of the 1890s by
Worth Robert Miller (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2011—$34.95, paper,
ISBN 978-1-935503-05-7, 225 pp., notes, index) tell the story of one of the most success-
ful third-party movements in American history. The arguments made in these illustrations
resonated with late 19th century readers, as evidenced by the continued use of the term ‘‘pop-
ulist.’’ This selection of cartoons and commentary give the common man’s perspective on
the politics of corporate greed in terms still (sadly) relevant today. The author, a historian at
106 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

Missouri State University, places the cartoons in the context of America more than a century
ago, backgrounding the cartoonists and issues of the day.

44:276
The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power by Victor S. Navasky
(New York: Knopf, 2013—$27.95, ISBN 978-0-307-95720-7, 256 pp., index) guides readers
through some of the greatest cartoons ever sketched—by such people as George Grosz, David
Levine, Herblock, Honoré Daumier, Thomas Nast, Ralph Steadman, et al. Navasky, a longtime
publisher and editor of The Nation (and now teaching journalism at Columbia University)
seeks to learn what makes cartoons so uniquely positioned to affect audiences. To find out, he
incorporates neuroscience, psychology, and a broad historical view of the political cartoon’s
evolution both in the United States and abroad.

44:277
A Century of Political Cartoons: Caricature in the United States from 1800 to 1900 by Allan
Nevins (New York: Scribner’s, 1944/Reprint Service, 1991—$69.00, ISBN [for the reprint]
978-0-781260-38-1, 191 pp., index) helped pave the way for serious analysis of cartoons as
Nevins was a distinguished academic historian. He provides dozens of examples of 19th century
work including, of course, many by Thomas Nast, placing them all in context of debates and
issues of the time.

44:278
The Political Cartoon by Charles Press (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickenson University Press,
1981—out of print, ISBN 978-0-8386-1901-8, 356 pp., notes, bibliography, index) was a title
about which we could not find much information—save that as a used book, it is apparently
a pricy collectible.

44:279
Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence edited by Richard Scully and
Marian Quartly (Melbourne, Australia: Monash University Publishing, 2009—$49.95, paper,
ISBN 978-0-9804-6484-9, 272 pp., references, index) offers an anthology of scholarly papers
ranging across racial and ethnic stereotypes, as well as representations of youth, gender, and
class during a number of historical periods. The collection is designed to provide a compre-
hensive introduction to the study of cartoons as sources in their own right. Among topical
subjects discussed (in addition to Australian issues) are the early 19th century British Regency
crisis, post-Civil War American politics, Anglo-Iraqi interaction during the Second World
War, and Yugoslav Communist propaganda.

44:280
Cartooning for Suffrage by Alice Sheppard (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
1993—out of print, ISBN 978-0-8263-1458-1, 276 pp., references, index) focuses on the work
of a relative handful of female cartoonists who backed women’s suffrage in the years before
passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women the vote. Their com-
pelling cartoons (strengthened by newly established art education for women), provided vivid
commentaries on suffrage issues. Sheppard, who teaches psychology at SUNY-Fredonia, inter-
weaves histories of the political cartoon and the suffrage movement with descriptions of the
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 107

lives and work of prominent American women cartoonists. Sections examine the symbolism of
the suffrage cartoon, the unique qualities of cartoons created by women (at a time when that
was rare), and relations between these often century-old images and modem feminist thought.

44:281
Attack of the Political Cartoonists: Insights and Assaults from Today’s Editorial Pages by
J. P. Trostle (Madison, WI: Dork Storm Press, 2004—$15.99, paper, ISBN 978-1-930964-67-9,
160 pp., cartoons) includes the work of 150 members of the Association of American Editorial
Cartoonists. Each is represented by a brief biographical statement and a number of sample
cartoons. A useful analytical introduction by Lucy Caswell (who heads Ohio State’s Cartoon
Reference Library) helps to place the work in broader context.

44:282
Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression edited by David Wallis (New
York: W. W. Norton, 2007—$15.95, paper, ISBN not available, 288 pp., cartoons) offers
nearly 100 examples of cartoons that were editorially killed, along with a discussion of why
that happened: the context of each incident. Most examples date from the late 1980s to the
time of publication with a scattering of earlier items. Many of the cartoonists included won
the Pulitzer or other journalistic prize (though usually not for the killed example shown here).
The examples all concern American publications, and offer a rather stark view of just how
cautious many editors and publishers are. Granted, the topics are often controversial (e.g.,
religion, sex), but the unwillingness to let some of this creative work appear as originally
planned is sad commentary on the lack of editorial strength.

44:283
The Line That Roars: Editorial Cartoons in the Age of Anxiety by Richard V. West (Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007—out of print, ISBN 978-0-9763-7713-9, 63 pp.,
cartoons) is an exhibition catalogue with commentary.

C. History—Foreign

44:284
Beaverbrook’s England 1940–1965: An Exhibition of Newspaper Cartoon Originals (Can-
terbury: University of Kent Printing Unit, 1981—out of print, paper, ISBN not provided, bib-
liography) reproduces work of Michael Cummings, David Low, ‘‘Vicky,’’ and Sidney ‘George’
Strube over a generation of work for Lord Beaverbrook’s Daily Express and other London
national dailies. A catalog for an exhibition, it includes (in addition to some 60 pages of
cartoons) essays on Beaverbrook’s cartoonists, the context of the period along with a chronol-
ogy (especially helpful for American readers), and biographies of the cartoonists. This was a
production of the Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature (now the British Cartoon
Archive—see 44:250) at the university.

44:285
Political Cartoons and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Ilan Danjoux (Manchester, UK:
Manchester University Press ‘‘New Approaches to Conflict Analysis,’’ 2012—$100.00, ISBN
108 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

978-0-7190-8362-4, 144 pp., cartoons, references, index) examines over 1200 Israeli and Pales-
tinian editorial cartoons to explore whether changes in their content anticipated the outbreak
of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in October of 2000. Despite stark differences in political, economic,
and social pressures, a notable shift in focus, style, and tone accompanied the violence. With
numerous examples and a detailed methodology, the study provides readers an introduction to
cartoon analysis as well as insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Danjoux is a postdoc
in political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

44:286
The Hecklers: A History of Canadian Political Cartooning and the Cartoonists’ History
of Canada by Peter Desbarats (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1979—out of print, ISBN
978-0-7710-2686-7, 255 pp., cartoons) lacks description here as we could not find a copy.

44:287
The World at War 1939–1945: The Cartoonists’ Vision by Roy Douglas (New York: Rout-
ledge, 1990—out of print, ISBN 978-0-415-03049-6 hard, 0-415-07141-0 paper, 300 pp.) melds
full-page reproductions of cartoons to brief but contextual captions explaining them. Cover-
age is wide—multiple countries and cartoonists on all sides of the war. The book, arranged
chronologically, makes clear the differing views of the war in different nations. The author
was an emeritus reader at the University of Sussex—but is clearly keeping busy. His book was
the first of three arranged in similar fashion, and ranging as widely—they appear next.

44:288
Great Nations Still Enchained: The Cartoonists’ Vision of Empire, 1848–1914 by Roy
Douglas (New York: Routledge, 1993—$151.00/44.95, ISBN 978-0-415-06856-7 hard, 978-
0-415-86215-8, 232 pp., cartoons, index) is the second book in the cartoon history series by
Douglas, though this ranges over an earlier period and provides examples from great imperial
powers of the 19th century—Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and even
the burgeoning United States.

44:289
Between the Wars 1919–1939: The Cartoonists’ Vision by Roy Douglas (New York: Rout-
ledge, 2013—$44.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-415-86757-3, 368 pp., cartoons) appeared after this
CBQ issue had gone to press as the third volume in the author’s series. It follows the same
format—cartoons with a good deal of contextual comment, helping to make even those in
foreign languages easy to assess by English-speaking readers.

44:290
Transnational Media Events: The Mohammed Cartoons & the Imagined Clash of Civi-
lizations edited by Elisabeth Eide, Risto Kunelius, and Angela Phillips (Goteborg, Sweden:
NORDICOM [Nordic Information Center for Media and Communication Research] ‘‘Research
Anthologies and Monographs,’’ 2008—$99.50, paper, ISBN 978-91-89471-64-1, 290 pp., ref-
erences) concerns the dozen infamous cartoons that first appeared in a 2005 Danish newspaper
and rapidly caused an uproar in the Moslem world. This anthology of 15 papers appears in
three parts: introduction, professional issues and crossing boundaries, the longest part. The
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 109

papers from researchers in many different countries review the coverage of the cartoons and
related incidents through a number of conceptual lenses: political spin, free speech theory,
communication rights, the role of visuals and images in global communication, Orientalism
and its counterdiscourse, media’s relations to immigration policy, and issues of integration.
See also the next title, and Klausen, below.

44:291
Political Cartoons in the Middle East: Cultural Representations in the Middle East edited
by Fatma Muge Gocek (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener ‘‘Princeton Series on the Middle
East,’’ 1997—$39.95/16.95, ISBN 978-1-5587-6156-8 hard, 978-1-5587-6157-5 paper, 154 pp.,
index) is described by its publisher as a collection of essays that ‘‘focus on the multiple cultural
spaces that political cartoons in the Middle East create across societies. Palmira Brummett
analyzes the images of women in Ottoman cartoons, while Shiva Balaghi studies issues of
nationalism in caricatures from Qajar Iranian newspapers. Ayhan Akman concentrates on
the issue of modernity in Turkish cartoons during the 1930–1975 period. Mohamed-Salah
Omri takes up the issue of war and cartoons as he comments on the politicization of Tunisian
cartoons during the Gulf War.’’ The editor is at the University of Michigan. For a related
title, see previous entry.

44:292
British and German Cartoons as Weapons in World War I by Wolfgang K. Hunig (New
York: Peter Lang, 2002—out of print, ISBN 978-3-6315-0211-2, 242 pp., cartoons, references,
index) is described by the publisher thusly: ‘‘On the basis of a corpus of 352 political car-
toons published during the First World War in the British Punch and its German equivalent,
Simplicissimus, the book presents a detailed, comparative study of cartoons in their historical
context. The aim of the cartoons is to level invectives against the war enemy. Many of these
are based on traditional stereotypes such as the Prussian militarist or the callous British busi-
nessman or colonialist. On the one hand, these stereotypes serve as reference points and on
the other, they are thus further entrenched in the minds of the readers. The way in which
the invectives are presented in the drawn scenes and their interplay with the headings and
the captions elucidates the cultural differences with regard to humor, irony and sarcasm. The
ideological background of the cartoons is betrayed by the way they simplify and manipulate
reality.’’

44:293
The Cartoons That Shook the World by Jytte Klausen (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2009—$29.95, ISBN 978-0-300-12472-9, 240 pp., chronology, notes, index) is described by
its university press this way. ‘‘Klausen interviewed politicians in the Middle East, Muslim
leaders in Europe, the Danish editors and cartoonists, and the Danish imam who started the
controversy. Following the winding trail of protests across the world, she deconstructs the
arguments and motives that drove the escalation of the increasingly globalized conflict. She
concludes that the Muslim reaction to the cartoons was not—as was commonly assumed—a
spontaneous emotional reaction arising out of the clash of Western and Islamic civilizations.
Rather it was orchestrated, first by those with vested interests in elections in Denmark and
Egypt, and later by Islamic extremists seeking to destabilize governments in Pakistan, Lebanon,
110 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

Libya, and Nigeria. Klausen shows how the cartoon crisis was, therefore, ultimately a political
conflict rather than a colossal cultural misunderstanding.’’ The author teaches comparative
politics at Brandeis. See also Eide, et al., above.

44:294
All the Views Fit to Print: Changing Images of the U.S. in ‘Pravda’ Political Cartoons,
1917–1991 by Kevin J. McKenna (New York: Peter Lang, 2001—$49.95, paper, ISBN 978-
0-8204-5008-7, 226 pp., cartoons, tables, references, index) offers a content analysis of the
Communist Party paper to show how its political cartoons varied along with changing party
policies. Using both qualitative as well as quantitative methods (and 100 example cartoons),
McKenna starts with the paper’s formation five years prior to the Revolution, and then traces
its changing anti-American stance over the decades prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. The
author teaches Russian language and culture at the University of Vermont and directs their
international studies program.

44:295
The Carnivalization of Politics: Quebec Cartoons in Relation to Canada, England, and
France, 1960–1979 by Raymond N. Morris (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press,
1995—$95.00, ISBN 978-0-7735-1318-1, 148 pp., references, index) examines (says the pub-
lisher) ‘‘cartoons published between 1960 and 1979, showing how their artists dealt with
particular aspects of Quebec’s political experience, including attempts to break away from
Canada and form a separate country. Morris points out recurring tensions and analyzes them
from a sociological perspective. One of his major objectives is to better understand the frame-
work through which ideas presented in cartoons are filtered to their audience, focusing on
the metaphors that underlie the frame, message, content, and form of the cartoons. Morris
argues that what he terms the ‘‘carnivalization’’ of political figures and events, whereby the
social structure is mockingly inverted and society’s values and taboos are exaggerated until
they become ridiculous, is a central metaphor governing Quebec cartoons of this period. He
also explores the metaphor of the family, with England and France as grandparents, Canada
and Quebec as parents, and the official-language minorities (i.e., the French) as children.’’

44:296
Patterns of Continuity and Change: Imaging the Japanese in Philippine Editorial Cartoons,
1930–1941 and 1946–1956 by Helen Yu-Rivera (Manila: Ateneo De Manila University
Press, 2008—$50.00, paper, ISBN 978-97-15504-77-5, 292 pp., cartoons, references) is a study
that traces Filipino views toward Japan before and after the latter’s occupation of the former,
illustrated with examples.

D. Individual Cartoonists

44:297
Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and The New York Times Brought
Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves by John Adler with Draper Hill (Garden City, NY:
Morgan James Publishing, 2008—$16.50, paper, ISBN 978-1-60037-443-2, 332 pp., cartoons,
appendix, bibliography) retells the fascinating story of the fall of the ‘‘Boss’’ Tweed ring which
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 111

ran (and plundered) New York City from the late 1860s into the early 1870s. As noted in
several other books in this essay review (see below), Nast drew the cartoons that many credit
for Tweed’s fall. The book takes a chronological approach, from the developing role of key
players after the Civil War through the height of the battle for political control in the early
1870s, to the aftermath after Tweed was released from prison. Adler is a retired management
consultant and entrepreneur, who spent a dozen years studying the 2,200-plus cartoons that
Thomas Nast drew over 25 years (1862–1886) for Harper’s Weekly, America’s leading 19th-
century illustrated newspaper. Hill, a political cartoonist by profession and a political cartoon
historian by avocation provided about 60% of the content in the book.

44:298
Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration by Lalo Alcaraz (New York: RDV Books,
2004—out of print, paper, ISBN 978-0-97192062-0, 125 pp., index) offers a broad survey of
cartoons by the author on immigration issues, largely within an American context. Divided
into chapters on the role of various presidents, the border patrol, use of English language
only, backlash from 9–11 and other events, and more, the book’s 1992–2004 cartoons take
a sympathetic look at the plight of immigrants. The author is a Los Angeles-based ‘‘political
artist.’’

44:299
Herblock: A Cartoonist’s Life by Herbert Block (New York: Macmillan, 1993—out of print,
ISBN 0-02-511895-1, 372, photos, index) is the life story of the long-time (a half century)
editorial page cartoonist for the Washington Post, filled with his memories of people, events,
times, and places, and illustrated with more than 200 of his own cartoons. Few political
cartoonists have written their own stories. And few could write as well as they drew. Herblock’s
published cartoon collections (all with his own extensive text about both the cartoons and
their context) include:

The Herblock Book (Boston: Beacon Press, 1952)

Herblock’s Here and Now (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1955)
Herblock’s Special for Today (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1958)
Straight Herblock (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964)
The Herblock Gallery (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1968)
Herblock’s State of the Union (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972)
Herblock’s Special Report (New York: Norton, 1974—this is devoted to the rise and fall
of Richard Nixon)
Herblock on All Fronts: Text and Cartoons (New York: New American Library, 1980)
Herblock Through the Looking Glass (New York: Norton, 1984)
Herblock at Large (New York: Pantheon, 1987)

44:300
I, Con: The Autobiography of Paul Conrad, Editorial Cartoonist by Paul Conrad (Los An-
geles: Angel City Press, 2006—$25.00, paper, ISBN 978-1-883318-72-7, 190 pp.) relates the
life of the longtime Los Angeles Times liberal cartoonist (1924–2010) with the deft pen. Af-
ter 14 years with the Denver Post, Conrad moved west and for three (1964–1993) decades,
112 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

appeared in the Los Angeles daily. He accepted a buy out when the Chandler family sold
the paper. He earned a Pulitzer for cartooning three times in that long period on the Pacific
Coast. Originals of some of his 1960s’ work are held by Syracuse University. Among Conrad’s
published collections, some published by his employer the Los Angeles Times in handsome
cloth-bound albums:

When In the Course of Human Events (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1973)—with Malcolm
Boyd
The King and Us: Editorial Cartoons (Los Angeles: Floyd Clymer, 1975)
Pro and Conrad (San Rafael, CA, Neff-Kane, 1985)
Drawn and Quartered (New York: Abrams, 1985)
Conartist: 30 Years with the Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times, 1993)
with text by Norman Corwin
Drawing the Line: The Collected Works of America’s Premier Political Cartoonist (Los An-
geles: Los Angeles Times, 1999)

44:301
Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons by Fiona Deans Halloran (Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013—$35.00, ISBN 78-0-8078-3587-6, 352 pp.,
cartoons, notes, bibliography, index) is the latest biography of the 19th century cartoon giant
(1840–1902) who is treated in a number of other titles in this essay review. Halloran, who
teaches history at Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School in Salt Lake City, focuses not just on Nast’s
political cartoons for Harper’s but also on his place within Gilded Age politics. She highlights
the many contradictions in his own life: he was an immigrant who attacked immigrant com-
munities, a supporter of civil rights who portrayed black men as foolish children in need of
guidance, and an enemy of corruption and hypocrisy who idolized then President Ulysses S.
Grant. Halloran interprets Nast’s work, explores his motivations and ideals, and illuminates
Nast’s lasting legacy on American political culture. There are a host of Nast books, some
aimed at kids, several of which are included in this essay review.

44:302
Herblock: The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist by Haynes Johnson and Harry
Katz (New York: Norton in association with the Herb Block Foundation and the Library of
Congress, 2009—$35.00, ISBN 978-0-393-06772-9, 304 pp., cartoons, DVD) offers a complete
record of his work as presented (some 18,000 cartoons) on the attached DVD. Johnson, a long-
time journalist, and Katz, former head curator of the prints and photographs division of the
Library of Congress, offer essays on the man and his work, and then sections reproducing
the better-known cartoons on such things as the Depression, the rise of Fascism and the war,
the Cold War, McCarthyism, civil rights, Nixon and Watergate, the rise of terrorism, the
Reagan revolution, and more recent times. The cartoons are produced full page (and this is
an album-size book), making them clearer than their original newspaper production. See the
list of Herblock’s own books just above.
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 113

44:303
The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast by Morton Keller (New York: Oxford University Press,
1975—out of print, paper, ISBN 978-0-19-501929-2, 353 pp., cartoons, references, index) is
one of the lasting standard biographies of the famous cartoonist who created many still-used
political symbols—such as the GOP elephant and the Democrat’s donkey (or that other name,
depending on your viewpoint). The author taught history at Brandeis.

44:304
Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman edited
by Jessie Kratz and Martha Grove (London: Phillip Wilson Publishers, 2008—$33.00, ISBN
978-0-85667-652-9, 96 pp., cartoons, references) is an exhibition catalog for the National
Archives of the cartoon world of Berryman (1869–1949) who drew intricately detailed cartoons
of election year candidates in the first half of the 20th century, chiefly for newspapers in
Washington DC. The editors who are both archive specialists with the Center for Legislative
Archives, a part of the National Archives, provide useful contextual commentary on the
chosen cartoons.

44:305
Ding: The Life of Jay Norwood Darling by David L. Lendt (Ames: Iowa State University
Press, 1979—out of print, ISBN 978-0-8138-0406-4, 196 pp., cartoons, photos, references,
index) has been reprinted several times since its original appearance.
Darling (1876–1962) became famed for his editorial cartoons in the Des Moines Register
(Iowa), which for decades (1917–1949) also appeared in the New York Herald-Tribune. He
was also an early conservationist and helped develop the federal ‘‘duck stamp’’ program that
continues to this day. His editorial cartoons twice won the Pulitzer Prize. (See also As Ding
Saw Herbert Hoover edited by John M. Henry, Iowa State University Press, 1996, and, also
edited by Henry, Ding’s Half Century, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1962).

44:306
Low’s Autobiography by David Low (London: Michael Joseph, 1956—out of print, no ISBN
provided, 387 pp., photos, index) is one of the best autobiographies by any cartoonist (and
there are few to begin with). Low (1891–1963) was born in New Zealand and began his career
there, but became known for his work in Britain from the 1930s into the early 1960s. Some
observers consider him the best political cartoonist of all times—and surely the best the British
have produced to date. He provided the text for many of his own books, and wrote with a
verve that matched his pen, as these pages make clear. See also Seymour-Ure and Schoff,
below. Low issued a host of books under his own name, beginning in Australia in 1908. Many
of the later titles appeared here and in Britain, sometimes with different text. Here are the
more important later collections (some of their content overlaps), emphasizing the editions
published in the United States:

Low’s Political Parade (London: Cresset Press, 1936); provides 150 cartoons centered on
British domestic politics and rising German concerns.
A Cartoon History of Our Own Times (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1938) explores the
rise of appeasement and British domestic politics
114 CBQ  July–September 2013  Volume 44:3

Europe Since Versailles: A History in One Hundred Cartoons with a Narrative Text
(London: Penguin Special, 1940)—this is becoming rare due to its paperback form and
poor wartime quality paper.
Europe at War: A History in Sixty Cartoons with a Narrative Text (London: Penguin
Special, 1941)—same comment as just above. This book follows the one above chrono-
logically, covering 1939-41 events.
Low on the War: A Cartoon Commentary of the years 1939–41 (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1941) was not seen—this may be a different edition with the same cartoons
as the title immediately above.
Years of Wrath: A Cartoon History 1932–45 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1946—
perhaps his single best known book, including now classic portrayals of Hitler, Churchill,
Mussolini, Stalin, and Roosevelt.
Low’s Cartoon History 1945–53 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1946) covered the im-
mediate post-war era of financial austerity in Britain and the rise of the Cold War.
The Fearful Fifties: A History of the Decade (London: Bodley Head, 1960) was his final
collection of cartoons and included the Suez and Hungarian crises of 1956.

Still needed is a comprehensive published collection of all of his work across three countries,
perhaps in electronic form.

44:307
Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons, and Illustrations of Tenniel by Frankie
Morris (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press ‘‘Victorian Literature and Culture,’’ 2005—
$65.00, ISBN 978-0-8139-2343-7, 416 pp., cartoons, references, index) relates the artistic work
of the man now best known as the illustrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Tenniel
(1820–1914) did most of his political cartooning in Punch, the English satirical weekly, and
his work is often seen as indicative of middle class thought of the time.

44:308
T. H. Nast: His Period and His Pictures by Alfred Bigelow Paine (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger
[print-on-demand], 2008—$60.95/40.95, ISBN 978-1-43742157-6 hard, 978-1-43733617-7 pa-
per, 636 pp., cartoons, index) was long the standard biography of Nast, first published in 1904,
shortly after the cartoonist’s death. Paine was a famous journalist of his era, sometimes in the
stable of William Randolph Hearst. This is a facsimile reprint of the original. As readers likely
know, one has to be careful with POD books as the illustrations are often missing, or very
poorly reproduced.

44:309
Oliphant’s Presidents: Twenty-Five Years of Caricature by Wendy Wick Reaves (Kansas
City: Andrews and McMeel, 1990—$12.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-8362-1813-8, 95 pp., cartoons,
photos, exhibit checklist, index) is the one semi-analytical work on one of my own favorite
contemporary cartoonists. It is the catalogue for a traveling exhibition of Oliphant’s graphic
and sculptural work arranged under the aegis of the National Portrait Gallery. A host of
Oliphant books exist (from his first in 1969)—some still in print—but they are nearly all
collections of his work and with some self-comment. In this one, Reaves summarizes 25 years
Copyright © 2013, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 115

of his often-biting graphic and sculptural commentary on the occupants of the White House
and places them (and him) in a broader context.

44:310
David Low by Colin Seymour-Ure and Jim Schoff (London: Secker & Warburg, 1985—
out of print, paper, ISBN 978-0-436-44755-6, 180 pp., references, bibliography, index) is
important as a model and exactly what is needed for many more political cartoonists—a serious
analysis of their place and work. Seymour-Ure then taught government at the University
of Kent, while Schoff had just been appointed administrator of the Art Gallery of South
Australia when this appeared. Their different backgrounds help make this a very strong and
insightful book. Chapters, illustrated by more than 150 of the best of Low’s work over his
half-century career, relate to his life and times, art, attitudes, and his impact. This is a model
study of the genre, sadly virtually unique. See the listing of Low’s more important collections
above.

2. POPULAR CULTURE

44:311
A History of Popular Culture: More of Everything, Faster and Brighter by Raymond F. Betts
with Lyz Bly (New York: Routledge, 2013 [2nd ed]—$105.00/33.95, ISBN 978-0-415-67436-2
hard, 978-0-415-67437-9 paper, 185 pp., photos, bibliography, index) covers a lot of ground
in very concise fashion, updated from the 2005 first edition by Betts alone. Betts, a former
professor history at the University of Kentucky, and Bly, an instructor in history and gender
studies at Case Western Reserve and Cleveland State universities, focus on the past century
of change in media and other diversions. Chapters examine, among other things, popular
culture in the war effort (chiefly World War II), reconfiguring time and space (time-shifting,
for example), a new world of images, contemporary entertainment in its many forms, the
topography of pleasure and diversion, and the unintended outcomes of all this. Naturally with
so little space, the authors rely and make good use of selected examples to underline key
points. The book is clearly aimed at textbook use in introductory courses. (Chris Sterling)

44:312
Godley Heretics: Essays on Alternative Christianity in Literature and Popular Culture edited
by Marc DiPaolo (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013—$40.00, paper, ISBN 978-0-7864-6780-6,
266 pp., photos, notes, works cited, index) seeks to meld literary and popular culture studies
approaches to the study of Christianity. A professor of English and film at Oklahoma City
University, the editor divides his 13 contributed papers into two sections: rewritten bibles:
alternative Christs and angels and demons among us: the politics and economics of heaven
and hell in popular culture. Some of the references are to literature, but many are to popular
films, some with religious themes, but many not. Underlying all of the papers is a sense of
alternative ways to look at Christ and Christianity, suggesting that traditional views may
not be the only ones, let alone correct. Various media are used—some quite effectively—to
communicate those alternative approaches. (Chris Sterling)
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