The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution

by Larry Gonick

Overview

The Cartoon History of the Modern World is a wickedly funny take on modern history. It is essentially a complete and up–to–date course in college level Modern World History, but presented as a graphic novel. In an engaging and humorous graphic style, Larry Gonick covers the history, personalities and big topics that have shaped our universe over the past five centuries, including the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the evolution of political, social, economic, and scientific thought, Communism, Fascism, Nazism, the Cold War, Globalization––and much more.

Volume I of the Cartoon History of the Modern World picks up from Gonick's award winning Cartoon History of the Universe Series. That series began with the Big Bang and ended with Christopher Columbus sailing for the New World. This book starts off with peoples that Columbus "discovered" and ends with the U.S. Revolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060760045
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/26/2006
Series:	Cartoon Guide Series
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	233,391
Product dimensions:	7.38(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Larry Gonick has been creating comics that explain history, science, math, and other big subjects for more than forty years. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. He has been a calculus instructor at Harvard (where he earned his BA and MA in mathematics), a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College.

Editorial Reviews

"I first discovered your Cartoon History series when I was in fifth grade. I was hooked. My mom noticed my interest in history, and she asked if I would be interested in competing in the National History Bee. To prepare, I didn’t study. I didn’t read textbooks or historical studies. Instead, I just kept reading your books, over and over again, and I found myself leading most of the rounds. By the end of the night, I had earned a spot in the national stage of the Bee." — Freshman, Brown University

From the Publisher

Since 1971 Gonick has been writing and drawing his highly entertaining Cartoon Guides, popularizing an extraordinary array of subjects, including genetics, physics, and even sex. Picking up where his most celebrated work, the multivolume Cartoon History of the Universe, left off, Gonick has now undertaken to cover the modern world. Though Europe is his focus, Gonick commendably devotes considerable attention and empathy to the native peoples of India and the Americas. He irreverently undercuts commonly accepted historical myths: for example, Gonick persuasively and humorously depicts Columbus as utterly hapless in dealing with other people, whether native Americans or his own crew. He also presents serious themes, tracing a history of religious intolerance and amoral quests for power and wealth, repeatedly resulting in mass slaughters. Gonick points to visionaries who saw beyond the prejudices of their times, focusing particularly on the Dutch Republic as a forerunner of American liberty. Gonick usually draws his figures in appealingly cartoony style, but will surprise readers with his occasional ventures into realism. Readers will be impressed by the scope of Gonick's research, covering subjects from Shakespeare, Galileo and Machiavelli to the Reformation and the American Revolution. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Any textbook will note that Columbus discovered America in 1492—but what happened to him afterward is far less well known. Enter this highly readable history from Gonick, comics' resident world historian. Picking up where his Harvey Award-winning The Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. 3, left off, this first of two volumes relates the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Peru; the rise of Portuguese trade; and the origins of the Sikhs, Lutherans, Calvinists, Jesuits, modern astronomy, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the United States. Produced with his signature combination of extensive research and humor, Gonick describes the exploits of Vasco da Gama and Magellan, the results of Henry VIII's desire for a male heir, and the writings of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Locke, all the while hooking the reader with bizarre anecdotes and comical asides. He's politically incorrect enough to exploit bits of stereotype for comic effect and to call Native Americans "Indians," but his work evinces a deeply humane worldview. With occasional nudity and an adult viewpoint, Gonick's histories are strongly recommended for all adult collections.
—Steve Raiteri

Library Journal

Gr 9 Up
An award-winning author presents a hilarious and informative survey of modern history. The book actually begins with an impressive 15-page distillation of pre-Columbian America; and while Europe and North America receive most of the attention, Gonick does include at least some highlights from other parts of the world. Covering such topics as the Protestant Reformation, the British defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Copernican model of the universe, and the American Revolution, he writes and draws with considerable wit and authority, and is obviously well versed in his subject. A good example of his cleverness appears at the book's outset, where he summarizes our knowledge of the first Americans who "arrived 12-, 15-, or 30,000 years ago, by land or by sea, from Siberia or somewhere else. They killed all the mastodons, ground sloths, and saber-toothed tigers, or else the big animals died of climate change." In the accompanying drawing, a man says to a serpent, "That much is almost certain." It is even more certain that most readers will enjoy this fun-filled trek through time.
—Robert SaundersonCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal