The Cartoon History of the United States by Larry Gonick

Lest the impression is given that Gonick’s irreverent history is some liberal revision, that’s emphatically not the case. At random, an important factor leading to the creation of the US constitution was tens of thousands of imported pairs of shoes being dumped in New York, putting cobblers out of business The French were evicted from North America via a war that essentially started over beaver hats during World War II over 100,000 Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps the Republican Party rose from foundation to political power in ten years the great emancipator Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery, to begin with at least, on constitutional grounds. There’s barely a page that doesn’t offer some interesting insight, or an obscure or largely whitewashed historical fact. For some the 1960s may be recalled via tripping out on bubblegum music and flower power, but this ran parallel to vast social upheaval, and ended with the election as President in 1970 of 1962’s pantomime villain, who then grew further into that role. Gonick is further extremely effective in displaying that nothing occurs in isolation. It rather belies the motto of “Land of the Free” on many occasions. Those are certainly covered, but Gonick’s history is resolutely social as well, meaning much is presented as change forced upon an entrenched establishment. He scores by ensuring this isn’t just another text book presentation of political triumph. Creator Larry Gonick would be the first to concede this isn’t an exhaustive work, but he packs an immense amount of information into slightly under four hundred pages. As a pain-free primer to a weighty topic, graphic novels don’t come much better than The Cartoon History of the United States.

The Cartoon History of the United States by Larry Gonick