Customer Reviews

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel

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Collectors of Dr. Seuss books will definitely want this volume. I found it eerie to see creatures which later appeared in books like ~Horton Hears a Who~, ~How the Grinch Stole Christmas~, and other favorite books of my childhood turning up in caricatures of Axis powers, racists, war profiteers, and the Fifth Column. But, upon reflection, I must admit that these cartoons mark the origins of the themes of community awareness and social consciousness that distinguish his comedic later works. I would not call this a book to be had on every shelf, but if you grew up with Dr. Seuss and still sneak peeks at those slender volumes up in your attic (or in the clutches of your own children and grandchildren), you will find yourself fascinated by the obvious comparisons.

The book includes explanatory commentary by Richard H. Minear and a chronology of the cartoons.

I was quite surprised when I discovered this book of over 200 (out of 400 he drew) political cartoons by Dr. Seuss (who became a Doctor only by honorary degree years later, even though he called himself Dr. Seuss at this time). I did not realize that he had been a major producer of propaganda in favor of intervention in World War II and later in favor of winning the war. What is even more surprising is to look at the cartoons and see familiar-looking fish, cats and turtles who show up in all of the most beloved children's stories by Dr. Seuss. Clearly, World War II was essential training for the pro-community, pro-progressiveness stories that three generations have now grown up with.

Dr. Seuss was so enraged by Italian pro-fascist propaganda that he sought a role in political cartooning with P.M., a New Deal liberal daily newspaper in New York. The newspaper did not carry advertising, and cost much more than other papers. As a result, it had a daily circulation of only 150,000. After two years, he volunteered for the service at age 38 and took a job in the Army signal corps creating propaganda movies (some of which won him Oscars).

Most of these cartoons would be ones that anyone would be proud to have drawn, for both their humor and the targeting of those who favored dictatorships and complacency about fascism. On the other hand, Dr. Seuss did a few that are certainly racist (although generally he was antiracist, opposing the ill treatment of blacks and Jews). The focus of his racism were Japanese (lots of slanted-eyes drawings of evil plotting) and Japanese-Americans (one cartoon shows Japanese-Americans picking up explosives after Pearl Harbor).

The book is also interesting for capturing the debates of those years in a fresh and visual way. I wish my studies of World War II in high school had included looking at some of these cartoons and discussing them. Because almost all of us know Dr. Seuss's later work so well, this book has a special usefulness to us in understanding U.S. politics of the time.

A lot of the cartoons are hard to understand unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of World War II. As a result, I suggest that you read the accompanying essays by Richard Minear that fill in the gaps. There is also a chronology to relate the dates to the events. The cartoons themselves are arranged by subject matter, all the better to tie together with essays. Some may find this ordering (rather than one strict beginning to end grouping) a little confusing. However, compared to most cartoon books, this one is very well documented.

I suspect that people from the Greatest Generation would enjoy receiving this book as a gift.

Overcome your stalled thinking about the politics of today being the way things are by seeing how much our views have changed since World War II! Maybe, just maybe, we have some misconceptions today that we are not aware of like Dr. Seuss did about Japanese-Americans (who were later rounded up into concentration camps). Perhaps our misconceptions relate to ignoring the travails of the poorest 3 billion people on the planet. Think about it.

I was also struck that peacetime uses of Dr. Seuss's talent created much greater work than did wartime efforts. Perhaps that is true for all of humanity. That's another argument in favor of peace.

I teach World History in high school and I love this book. I would agree with a previous reviewer that for the person who is just picking this book up to read, the book would be improved by being presented chronologically. However, I found this book to be invaluable when presenting the propaganda of World War II to students. They have a natural love of Dr. Seuss and are very interested in the cartoons. Their interest in the cartoons leads to a lively discussion of the content of the cartoons. A must for all teachers of World History, U.S. History or any history of the modern era.

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.

This collection of Dr. Suess' political cartoons of the WW II era is likely to intirgue both history buffs as well as the fans of all those wildly imaginative kids' books. The cartoons are not chronologically ordered. Rather, they are grouped by themes, with introductory material by Minear preceding each (e.g., "The Home Front," "Hitler and Nazi Germany," "Winning the War"). This may seem a bit chaotic to some, but in another way, it can be beneficial in that it encourages one to make one's own comparisons of cartoon symbolism by paging back and forth.

Minear provides just enough historical backdrop. What I admire is that he respects the reader enough to refrain from making a complete interpretation of the cartoons. He often poses rhetorical questions that suggest multiple motives for Suess. I like that; it leaves me to make up my own mind based on my own knowledge of historical events.

Children familiar with Seuss will have a natural attraction to the cartoons, as many of the forerunners of familar characters appear there. However, they are also likely to ask questions about things they don't understand. For children old enough (and that's a personal call), this can be a wonderful way to introduce them to the history of World War II and the political climate of the times. Suess had a strong anti-isolationist stance, but he also touches upon racism (labor exclusion practices during the war, anti-semitism). He also demonstrates some degree of racism himself, in the depiction of Japanese. True, that was the prevalent attitude of the times, but again, you have an opportunity to open up some deeper discussion with a child or with your own conscience. Teachers may be especially interested in tapping the potential of this book.

This is an extraordinarily important book for educators. My students in universities all over the US tell me that their earliest and most beloved connection to literacy was through Dr Seuss. Yet, to them, Seuss stands outside history, an icon, and when I ask them to make lists of the most important people of the US in the 20th century, they rarely mention him. "He's from everywhere, for all time," one student told me. This book sets that right, as it should be. In the best of traditions, it uses history to do it, combining original documents with interviews, the selection of important material, and a grasp of the social context. Here, we can see that Seuss at least dabbled with the left, and he held racist views, despite his anti-fascist outlook. Perhaps that will help some of my students understand how the US could fight the Nazis--with a segregated military. We learn the source of Yertle and the Who's who Horton hears, connecting whimsy with the material world, a maneuver Seuss both employed and denied. Seuss, author of the anti-racist text, The Sneetches, the lover of literacy, becomes human here, and we are the better for it.

An amazing (and at times amusing) look at the "Greatest War" in the history of mankind, as well as a sub-conciously-psycho-analytical autobiography of one of the great literary minds of the 20th Century. In this book, Seuss blares (at full blast) the political edge that he oh-so subtly reveals in his childrens books later in his life.

I only give it less than 5 stars due to the good Doctor's unfortunately harsh (and somewhat hypocritical) caricature of the "Japs" during the war years. It leaves me to wonder if later in life (say about the time he penned "The Lorax"), he realized the ignorance/denial of his own xenophobia.

Despite this lapse of good taste, every fan of Theo Lesieg should have a copy of this on his/her coffee table; I would actually recommend it as a suplimentary textbook in any high school/college level course in contemporary US History.

In Dr. Seuss Goes to War, Richard Minear depicts the cartoonists editorial cartoons for New Yorks PM newspaper. Minear defines PM as a "left-wing daily newspaper" that ran from 1940-48. Theodore Seuss Geisel landed a job as editorial cartoonist from 1941-2 after which he never drew another editorial cartoon again. Minear shows how Dr. Seuss conveyed his political beliefs into cartoon format. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Petain, Laval, and Lindbergh, were often among the personages depicted in some negative political light.

Minear does not wax sentimental towards what Dr. Seuss eventually became in that he uses anti-Japanese-American cartoons as well as those that modern American Seuss fans can be proud of. Anti-Japanese-Americanism is the only apparent negative racial flaw in the Seuss arsenal. African-Americans and Jewish-Americans were not subjugated to similar negativisms.

Fans of Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham or the many other Seuss works will delight in seeing historical figures drawn similarly to later Seuss creations. This is an important book that shows a little known aspect of Geisels life, one previously limited to biographical sketches.

Anyone who has read Dr. Seuss (and, honestly, who hasn't?) knows that his books include a great deal of political and/or social commentary disguised as children's stories. What many people don't know is that Dr. Suess started as an advertising copy writer and, early in World War II, worked as an editorial cartoonist.

This is a collection of some of his best editorial cartoons from that period, together with a detail commentary that helps to place them in their historical context. These cartoons show that Dr. Seuss was bitterly opposed to isolationism, and was clearly way ahead of his time with respect to civil rights. Ironically, however, he demonstrates a distinct bias against the Japanese that almost feels racist.

This is a facinating glimpse into a largely overlooked chapter of a celebrated artist's career, and should be required reading for anyone who wants a better understanding of Dr. Seuss, the man.

I'm one of those who grew up in the `50s with the Dr. Seuss books, and I still enjoy them. But I was somewhat disappointed with this collection of his editorial cartoons from 1941-42. Partly, that's because his creativity seems to have stumbled in doing them -- especially if you compare his work to, say, Herblock's wartime cartoons. And partly, it's because the book itself could have been much more informative. The lengthy notes on each drawing mostly just describe what you're already looking at; there's very little analysis. Aside from that, I'm puzzled at the comments of all the critics (and the other reviewers here) on Dr. Seuss's aparent "racism" in depicting the Japanese. This was wartime, folks! Of *course* there was anti-Japanese racism in the United States! Portraying the enemy in extremely uncomplimentary terms was part of the war effort. Remember the Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons? Remember the official U.S. government visual interpretations of the Japanese? Granted, it was stronger in the case of our Asian enemies because (1) there were relatively many fewer Japanese-Americans in 1942 than there were Americans of German and Italian descent, and (2) Asians simply stand out more prominently in a predominantly European country. Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. And while it may be politically incorrect for me to point this out, it certainly doesn't make *me* racist to make the observation.