Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and the New York Times Brought Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves [Paperback]

John Adler (Author), Draper Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008

The legendary Boss Tweed effectively controlled New York City from after the Civil War until his downfall in November 1871. A huge man, he and his Ring of Thieves appeared to be invincible as they stole an estimated $2 billion in today's dollars. In addition to the New York city and state governments, the Tweed Ring controlled the press except for Harper's Weekly. Short and slight Thomas Nast was the most dominant American political cartoonist of all time; using his pen as his sling in Harper's Weekly, he attacked Tweed almost single-handily before The New-York Times joined the battle in 1870. Where "Doomed by Cartoon" differs from previous books about Boss Tweed is its focus on looking at circumstances and events as Thomas Nast visualized them in his 160-plus cartoons, almost like a serialized but intermittent comic book covering 1866 through 1978. It has been organized to tell the Nast vs. Tweed story so that readers with an interest in politics history and/or cartoons will enjoy.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Adler is a retired management consultant and entrepreneur, who has spent 12 years studying the 2,200-plus cartoons that Thomas Nast drew over 25 years (1862-1886) for Harper's Weekly, America's leading 19th century illustrated newspaper. This book, his first, contains more than 160 of them. Mr. Adler is the publisher of two digital databases - Harper's Weekly: 1857-1912 and Lincoln and the Civil War.com - for which he was awarded the 2003 E-Lincoln Prize for History. As a public service, he also initiated and edited 30 historical and literary websites currently available at HarpWeek.com. Several of them feature Nast, including Cartoonist Thomas Nast vs. Candidate Horace Greeley: The Election of 1872; Nast on Broadway: The Grand Caricaturama of 1867-1868; Nast and Shakespeare; and Nast and Literature.

Draper Hill, a political cartoonist by profession and a political cartoon historian by avocation, has been engrossed for 50 years by the artistry and imagination of Thomas Nast. John Adler tapped Mr. Hill's vast store of knowledge by commissioning him to prepare three Nast-oriented projects, providing about 60% of the narrative and interpretative content included in this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600374433
• ISBN-13: 978-1600374432
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #495,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Before there was Fox News, YouTube or Saturday Night Live..., October 20, 2008

By 

David L. Hancock "David L. Hancock" (Garden City, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and the New York Times Brought Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves (Paperback)

Length:: 2:00 Mins

Before there was Fox News, YouTube and "Saturday Night Live," there was Thomas Nast, whose devastating caricatures in Harper's Weekly helped produce Boss Tweed's downfall. And in "Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and The New-York Times Brought Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves" (Morgan James, $19.95), John Adler, a self-described amateur historian, along with Draper Hill (himself a political cartoonist), present Nast's work in serialized comic book form.

The New York Times reports that "Nast's drawings are fleshed out by an informative and engaging narrative that credits his impact without overlooking his political incorrectness. The caricatures are a vivid reminder that both campaigns and political commentary have, for the most part, gotten tamer."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Book!, December 15, 2008

By 

Dudnique "grill aficianado" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and the New York Times Brought Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves (Paperback)

John Adler has done America and history buffs a TREMENDOUS service with this remarkable book about the cartoons by Thomas Nast that brought Boss Tweed to justice and made New York City a better place to live. The cartoons themselves are gorgeously rendered and varied, and Mr. Adler manages to bring them back to life with well written and enlightening vignettes about how things were under the thumb of Tammany Hall. This book is absolutely A+. Hat's off to Mr. Adler!