The Barnes & Noble Review
What a year for those who make us laugh -- and think! There are usually a number of interesting political events in any given year, but the crazy election of 2000 gave the nation's editorial cartoonists an extra load of ammunition for their feverish imaginations. In this roundup of the best cartoons of the year, there is an entire section on "The Florida Vote," including hilarious takes on hanging, dangling, and pregnant chads; the meddlesome Jeb Bush; fashion icon Katherine Harris; and the legion of lawyers. As you would expect, George "Shrub" Bush and Al "The Robot" Gore go at it in a series of cartoons covering both the campaign and the resulting vote-counting chaos.
The exiting Clinton administration, which certainly didn't disappoint the nation's editorial cartoonists, gets a final dose of abuse, including appearances by Monica, Janet Reno, Hilary (as she makes her departure for the Senate), and the various Whitewater probe bloodhounds.
Other domestic doings chronicled in these pages include Alan Greenspan's adroit handling of the economy (and his role as "shadow president"), the rise and fall of the dot-com economy, the Supreme Court's upholding of the Boy Scouts' ban on gays, the Harry Potter craze, the contradictory role of guns and Bibles in our schools, the breaking of the human genome code, racial profiling in our biggest cities, and John Rocker's "free speech" issues.
Foreign affairs are not slighted: After all, 2000 was the "Year of Elian." The cartoonists also weigh in on the struggle for Middle East peace, Vladimir Putin (as Vlad the Impaler, in one instance), and other international inanities.
The book hits a more emotional and intimate note with heartfelt tributes to two well-loved cartoon icons who perished in 2000: Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Jeff MacNelly.
This is one of my favorite reads every year. It perfectly encapsulates the events of the previous 12 months and gives new meaning to that old chestnut about a picture being worth a thousand words! (Nicholas Sinisi)
Nicholas Sinisi is the Barnes & Noble.com Nonfiction editor.
This prize collection of 1997's funniest, most memorable, and stunningly insightful newspaper editorial cartoons is a mirror of the concerns and disbelief of that year. It's a perfedct 'everyman's history'.
Adult/High School - The Pulitzer Prize and other annual award winners for editorial cartoons open this collection of 425 images. Despite the cover art depicting History reminding us not to repeat the events of September 11, 2001, the cartoons are a visual year in review from 2006 publications. Provocative and challenging, they are laid out in thematic groups and reflect a balance of political views. Topics include presidential politics, elections, global warming, and bird flu. Both national and international issues are covered. A brief context for each theme is presented; however, the editor does not provide analysis or interpretation of individual entries. A list of past award recipients is included. This collection has great potential to enrich government or current-events curricula, but as an annual, it may not be practical for smaller collections.-Meg Canada, Hennepin County Library, MN
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