[.ca] Dr Seuss Goes To War: The World War 11 Editorial ... (ISBN 1565847040)

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

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.

Little-known, timely, and an enjoyable book with later hints:
Until stumbling across this book, I would have had no idea that Dr. Seuss had once been an editorial cartoonist. Upon opening the book, the familiar illustrative style and in many cases, the whimsical, lyrical poetic style found in his children's books jump out. It is only as you examine deeper that you can really settle in and appreciate what the book compiled together. In these cartoons Seuss mocks Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, and stereotypes present in the American culture of the 1940s. He has cartoons on domestic subjects, foreign policy acts and blunders, and the Second World War in general. Here you see Yertle the Turtle before we knew it was him, and other characters that we met in later books. My history students, of course, were initially thrilled to see more of Dr. Seuss' work, having grown up appreciating all that he did. But then, as we discussed what message and or/event was being referenced in individual cartoons, they grew appreciative and even more interested. I really like using this book.

Another side of the talented Ted Geisel:
To mention Dr. Seuss conjours up the images of the Cat in the Hat, the Sneeches and the Grinch. However, before the great Dr. became a staple of children's libraries everywhere, Ted Geisel was an artist - a cartoonist. Just as "The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss" shows the formation and talent of the whimsical artist, this book shows the formation of the political artist that was also Dr. Seuss. From a beginning of doing editorial cartoons at Dartmouth, Geisel moved on to dabble in his first few children's books. But with the advent of World War II, he found himself drawing cartoons for PM Magazine and others. These cartoons, so strange because of their overt politics, show Geisel's ability to merge the whimsical and the serious. To pointedly make his statement, but to also find humor in doing so. No enemy is as scary when reduced to the punchline of a cartoon. What is strange to see, and this book shows so well, is the growth of a style that we would all come to know and love. How often after the war do creatures such as the stylized (non-interventionist) ostrich appear as the prototypical walking bird that inhabits the Seuss landscape? His cartoons though often targeted domestic problems as well as the axis leaders - the politics are broad sweeping. A portfolio of these cartoons would be enough to enjoy for the arts sake, but Richard Minear takes the time to put the artwork in place, both in terms of where Geisel was in his life as where the country was in its strife. In this, the book goes beyond just a celebration of heretofore uncollected Seuss drawings, but as a glimps into the political homefront of World War II. A worthy addition to any Seuss-ophile's library, or anyone who wants to explore the political times of the late 30's and early 40's.