Product Description

The bestselling treasure trove of World War II political cartoons by Dr. Seuss. For decades, readers throughout the world have enjoyed the marvelous stories and illustrations of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. But few know the work Geisel did as a political cartoonist during World War II, for the New York daily newspaper PM. In these extraordinarily trenchant cartoons, Geisel presents "a provocative history of wartime politics" (Entertainment Weekly). Dr. Seuss Goes to War features handsome, large-format reproductions of more than two hundred of Geisel's cartoons, alongside "insightful" (Booklist) commentary by the historian Richard H. Minear that places them in the context of the national climate they reflect. Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegelman's introduction places Seuss firmly in the pantheon of the leading political cartoonists of our time. 200 black-and-white illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3938 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From Amazon.com
Before Yertle, before the Cat in the Hat, before Little Cindy-Lou Who (but after Mulberry Street), Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) made his living as a political cartoonist for New York newspaper PM. Seuss drew over 400 cartoons in just under two years for the paper, reflecting the daily's New Deal liberal slant. Starting in early 1941, when PM advocated American involvement in World War II, Seuss savaged the fascists with cunning caricatures. He also turned his pen against America's internal enemies--isolationists, hoarders, complainers, anti-Semites, and anti-black racists--and urged Americans to work together to win the war. The cartoons are often funny, peopled with bowler-hatted "everymen" and what author Art Spiegelman calls "Seussian fauna" in his preface. They are also often very disturbing--Seuss draws brutally racist images of the Japanese and even attacks Japanese Americans on numerous occasions. Perhaps most disturbing is the realization that Seuss was just reflecting the wartime zeitgeist.

Dr. Seuss Goes to War marks the first time most of these illustrations have appeared in print since they were first published. Richard H. Minear's introduction and explanatory chapters contextualize the 200 editorial cartoons (some of whose nuances might otherwise be lost on the modern reader). Those who grew up on Seuss will enjoy early glimpses of his later work; history buffs will enjoy this new--if playful and contorted--angle on World War II. --Sunny Delaney

From Library Journal
Few fans of Dr. Seuss's whimsy are likely to be aware that before authoring The Cat in the Hat Theodor Seuss Geisel penned editorial cartoons for the New York daily PM. This new collection presents approximately half the newspaper cartoons that Geisel drafted for the pro-New Deal paper from the start of 1941 (when his main targets were the isolationists who opposed U.S. intervention in European and Asian affairs) until 1943 (when he accepted a commission in the U.S. Army). Minear (history, Univ. of Massachusetts) has done a fine job of selecting, arranging in thematic order, and providing historical commentary for these cartoons, which are full of Geisel's expected visual wit; seeing the early development of his eccentric animal menagerie is a special treat. As Art Spiegelman notes in his introduction, Geisel's Uncle Sam seems to have been practice for what would become the Cat in the Hat. "The prototype for the cat's famous headgear is actually...Uncle Sam's red-and-white-striped top hat! The Cat in the Hat is America!" writes Spiegelman. Recommended for larger libraries.AKent Worcester, Marymount Manhattan Coll., New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Entertainment Weekly
Scathing, fascinating stuff....A provocative history of wartime politics. Grade: A.

Customer Reviews

Oh the Drawings He Drew
Dr. Seuss Goes to War is a fascinating look at the political cartoons of Theodor Geisel, (Dr. Seuss). Seuss was hired to draw political cartoons for the New York newspaper PM in 1941 and remained through 1943. Seuss had already published his first children's book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937 but his other children's works were not created until after WWII.

Two hundred of those roughly four hundred cartoons have found their way into Dr. Seuss Goes to War. Because these cartoons were drawn on a daily basis and reflected contemporary events they provide the reader with a fascinating window through which one can view life in America and the World during the war years.

The book begins with a brief introduction by Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize winning author/illustrator of Maus. Spiegelman notes the eerie resemblance between the figures and animals drawn by Seuss and his later creations such as the Cat in the Hat, Myrtle the Turtle, and Horton.

The cartoons themselves are divided into sections by topic, (the Home Front, Hitler & Nazi Germany, the Rest of the Word, etc.). Each section contains a very well written and thoughtful preface by historian Richard Minear. These explanatory sections are quite helpful in putting the cartoons into the context of the day and providing critical information about some of the then well known figures of the day (Father Coughlin, Pierre Laval and others) that may be unfamiliar to contemporary readers. Minear's commentary is particularly useful because it contains links between the information he provides by reference to the specific page number of a cartoon. The reader's enjoyment and understanding of the cartoon is enhancement by this treatment.

As to the cartoons themselves, it is impossible to do justice to their power, wit, and whimsy. Seuss, and his newspaper PM, were strongly opposed to the isolationist movement in the U.S. in the months before America's entry into the war. As such Seuss pulled no punches when it came to directing his wrath at Charles Lindbergh and other isolationists. He mocked Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, and Stalin (until the German attack on the USSR) and the Vichy French government. Seuss' treatment of the Vichy regime, most notably Pierre Laval, was positively brutal.

Minear also includes a number of Seuss' cartoons attacking anti-Semitism and other racist, segregationist policies on the home front. In this area Seuss was well ahead of his time. Minear counterbalances this aspect of Seuss' world view by including Seuss cartoons lampooning Tojo, the Japanese military, and the Japanese people. Minear is quick to point out his disappointment at what he calls Seuss's ugly stereotyping of Japanese-Americans that he thought went beyond the bounds of acceptable commentary, even in the 1940s. Minear's disappointment is heightened by Seuss' otherwise enlightened approach to the treatment of Jewish and African Americans in the 1930s and 1940s.
On a purely emotional level, anyone who has ever read Dr. Seuss will enjoy looking at his political cartoons. The cartoons are both funny and thought provoking. The essence of Seuss's style of caricatures is fully in place and it is quite easy to see the physical similarity between the animals and people drawn by Seuss here and in his later children's works. This is a book that can be enjoyed by anyone who has ever read Dr. Seuss as a child. It will also be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in political cartoons or would like to explore how America viewed the world (through Seuss' eyes) between 1941 and 1943.

SKETCH THIS ONE A WINNER! EVEN WITHOUT THE GREEN EGGS ...
Theodor Geisel gone political? That's right. The man responsible for "Green Eggs and Ham" and "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" has a serious side: He repeatedly vilified Hitler and the Nazi threat in a series of political cartoons he penned in the '40s for the popular, liberal New York newspaper "PM." Author and historian Richard Minear has amassed nearly 200 of these imaginative illustrations in this important book --- illustrations that urge Americans to fight Hitler, buy U.S. bonds, help control inflation and support the war effort. The enemies are clear: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Japan. Seuss' work is sharply critical of anti--Semitism and anti-Black racism, yet the images are shockingly and undeniably racist in their portrayal of Japanese Americans. (Remember the time frame --- 1941-1942 --- and American opinion at the time.) Sketch this one a winner.

Many of the cartoons revolve around imminent Axis threat
Dr. Seuss Goes To War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons Of Theodor Seuss Geisel is a remarkable, memorable, and highly recommended collection of the barbed and sharp-witted editorial cartoons drawn by Theodor Seuss Geisel, who is perhaps best known as Dr. Seuss, the author of such popular favorite children's books as "Horton Hears a Who" and "The Cat in the Hat". The cartoons presented here date back to the dark years of World War II, when the Axis powers threatened to consume the world; many of the cartoons revolve around the imminent threat to America and the need to become involved before it was too late. The cartoons cease in late 1942 to early 1943 as Geisel himself went to war to protect his country. He survived the fighting but after the war was over he never returned to editorial cartoon work, but achieved an enduring literary legacy through creating children's classics with underlying meaningful themes.