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Staff artist reviews "Herblock: The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist"

Staff artist reviews "Herblock: The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist"

Date published: 11/20/2009

"HERBLOCK: "The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist," by Haynes Johnson and Harry Katz, covers the life, career and cartoons of the legendary multi-Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Herbert L. Block.

Though the book covers Herblock's entire career, he is mostly famous as the cartoonist for The Washington Post. He had an unusual relationship with his newspaper--creative license separate from Post editorial positions.

He used that freedom to attack Hitler and Stalin in the 1940s, Goldwater in the '60s, Nixon in the '50s, '60s and '70s, all the way through Reagan to George W. Bush.

Johnson writes Herblock's biography while Katz focuses on his work in a historical context. In addition to the book, buyers receive a DVD containing 18,000 of the artist's cartoons.

This retrospective volume is published to coincide with an exhibition at the Library of Congress celebrating the centennial of Herblock's birth.

--Clay Jones, editorial cartoonist

HERBLOCK: THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE GREAT POLITICAL CARTOONIST By Herbert Block, Harry Katz (editor), Haynes Johnson(W.W. Norton, $35)

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Date published: 11/20/2009