Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life [Paperback]

Herbert Block (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 1998

Now in trade paper--Herbert Block's hilarious memoir, with 250 of his greatest political cartoons, celebrating his 50th anniversary with "The Washington Post". Eight page photo insert.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Herbert Block, or Herblock, as he is more commonly known, has been an editorial cartoonist for the Washington Post since 1945. A Cartoonist's Life reproduces 250 of his best cartoons from those years (along with some from his earlier stints in Chicago and Cleveland), skewering politicians from Hoover and FDR to Clinton and Gingrich. Herblock also offers his candid reflections on life in the newspaper trade, rubbing shoulders with the people he drew, including the evaluation offered by Lyndon Johnson at a White House reception: "Oh, he'll come over and eat your cookies, but then he'll go back and draw a cartoon giving you hell the next day."

Herblock's always been willing to choose giving the objects of his criticism hell over the easy laugh, as many of the grimmer cartoons on subjects like antigun control lobbyists and the Bosnian conflict attest. The paperback edition includes added material going up to July 1998 addressing campaign finance reform, the unfinished war in Iraq, and the political showdown between President Clinton and independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

From Publishers Weekly

The prize-winning Washington Post editorial cartoonist Herblock is feared by erring politicians and admired by others for his humorous and pointed drawings on issues of the day. Along with 200 examples of his graphic style and ingenious ideas (Nixon holding the GOP elephant hostage, Carter viewing his own "Fuzzy" TV image, Ollie North turning shredded evidence into lucrative contracts), the artist here engagingly recalls a baseball-and-trolley-car Chicago boyhood followed by his start as a poorly paid cartoonist, a career which ultimately won him nation-wide recognition. Block includes hard-hitting capsule histories of Nixon, Reagan and Bush administration scandals he chronicled. His quietly told press corps anecdotes, such as helping a colleague authenticate a letter from President Truman, his insider bits on the famous and descriptions of correspondence he has received from people he has criticized are all pure delight.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Updated edition (September 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812930541
• ISBN-13: 978-0812930542
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,109,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting insights, interesting person, December 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life (Paperback)

The fact that Herblock's cartoons give conservative Republicans indigestion every time they're published should be one reason to buy this book. The fact that Herblock can be equally scathing of Democrats who wimp out on their responsibilities is another. Contrary to the assessment of the overly-partisan reviewer below, I maintain that Herblock is an equal-opportunity gadfly and, as this autobiography shows, one who has led an interesting life both at the Washington Post and away from it. Buy this book and piss off a conservative!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now more than ever / Not Since Walt Kelly, October 10, 2001

By 

Former Rater (Nowhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life (Paperback)

The single finest political cartoon image of a politician and the winner of our national "gut feeling" awareness award goes to Herblock's Richard Nixon rising from a casket with his dracula cape, fangs and 5 o'clock shadow just below the hands holding the wooden stake and mallet.

No, Nixon was still alive and kicking when Herblock did that commentary. He was trying to become an "elder statesman" and given his political history of rising from oblivion -- Herblock had him and us dead square.

Walt Kelly (Pogo) and Herblock were the seminal political cartoonists of the middle of the century. They are missed.

This -- all too short -- book covers the only a few highlights out of a 50 year career. Buy the book. Herblock is gone, but his insights will not fade.

GRO

4 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Herblock: Two-Fisted Hypocrite, January 15, 2004

By 

Angel L. Reyes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life (Paperback)

Always expect to find socialist garbage whenever you stumble upon a Herblock book (including this one). Herblock does not just use satire when demeaning his (mostly all Republican) targets, he spews hatred and leftist propaganda into his cruddy drawings (which progressively got worse and worse- his 90s artwork is basically a butcher job). Herblock never noted (or ignored) the acomplishments made by his most frequent presidential targets Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixion and Ronald Reagon, successes that should have satisfied his liberal taste. Eisenhower presided over a decade of economic growth and growing social awareness of Civil Rights (highlighted by his decision to send troops to enforce racial integration at Little Rock, High School). Instead he bashes the President as a do-nothing conservative. Ronald Reagon's administration succeeded in terminating the Cold War without any nuclear action commited by both the Russians and the U.S., a resolution Herblock, judging on his cartoons on the issue, would have approved. Instead, he bashes Reagon as some ignorant right-wing extremist. Then we come to Nixion...certainly he deserved to be a punching bag for Watergate, but here Herblock recklessly attacks Nixion with more vigor than the cartoons he drew mocking Hitler earlier in his career. I wonder how Herblock would feel when he found out Nixion was actually quite a liberal president; he signed bills approving affirmative action, equal rights for women and environmental preservation (even Micheal Moore confessed recently in his new book that Nixion was our last liberal president). More disgustingly, Herblock treated virtually all democratic presidents with kid gloves! FDR is portrayed as a saint in Herblock's cartoons, despite the fact that under his administration, more blacks were lynched or were victims of mob violence than any period under Republican leadership (he didn't even issue a pardon for the innocent Scottsboro Boys). And the Block basically kissed JFK's ass throughout his presidency. There's one cartoon where it's just Kennedy explaining to a reporter how a war room was used to track the whereabouts of his rambunctious family members. No joke, just a cute piece clearly sucking up to the Kennedies. Nope, Herblock never made any cartoons assailing the president for his Bay of Pigs invasion, his dragging on Civil Rights and his decision to escalate the war in Vietnam, but I'm sure he would have if he was a Republican. Even worse, Herblock uses every cliche to push his socialist agenda, like drawing pathetic looking homeless urchins begging for food while capitalists with dollar signs in their eyes bask in their riches. I could go on, but let's just conclude by saying that Herblock's cartoons would be funny for entirely different reasons if it wasn't for the seriousness of his wacko ideaology.