Customer Reviews

On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons, 1925-2009 (New Yorker on the Money)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wov!! So entertaining. Very witty cartoons about the economy. Great satire. All the years and decades covered wonderfully. Great book. I really enjoyed it. The size is good, and easy to read and enjoy. I like the older decades better than recent ones. It is hard bound and quality is very good.

Actually I debated between giving this 4 or 5 stars. For my tastes, the unvarying focus on money is best apppreciated in smaller doses, but in the end, I think it's like buying a book of dog cartoons -- you need to *really* like dogs.

All the familiar New Yorker stalwarts are here, Peter Arno, Charles Addams and Whitney Darrow as well as contemporaries of theirs with which I was not as familiar, and the new generation of cartoonists currently appearing in the magazine.

The cartoons range from the 1920s to this year. On the whole, the most enjoyable era is the 1930s through the 1950s. The 20s are tentative as the artform is being developed, and the generational change in the 60s was not, in my opinion, an improvement.

This being the New Yorker, there is a long introductory essay, which I did not read -- I feel that cartoons either stand on their own or do not. On the whole these hold up quite well, though you may wish to read a few pages at a time.

The New Yorker magazine has always been a source for well-written articles for over 80 years and but also, the publication has also been a great source to find the latest cartoons on various situations happening in American culture. May it be politics, religions and also the economy.

From the economy starting out in 1925 and the Great Depression of 1929 to the recession of 2009, with "The New Yorker - On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons (1925-2009)", you get over 250 pages of cartoons from various decades.

Personally, one of the most intriguing parts of the book that I was look forward to was to see how the economy during the 1920's was depicted in the publication.

From the lady who lends a beggar some money saying "You poor fellow! The stock market, I suppose?" and the man responding with "No, lady, I was always a bum."

Or the 1930's with a woman sitting on her husband's lap during the the theater saying to the woman's next to them "We're on a budget".

And of course, when you make it to the 1980's during the bubble economy, and the cartoons showing how the Republication 80's favored the rich with one cartoon showing a man telling another "I suppose one could say it favors the rich, but, on the other hand, it's a great incentive for everyone to make two hundred grand a year."

And of course, this decade with cartoons with one man at a bar telling the bartender "I fell like a man trapped in a woman's salary." and a woman telling her boyfriend (or husband) with another couple coming to visit, "I forget - are these your friends where we pretend we make more money than we actually do, or less?".

And another cartoon with a man coming to a gas station and the attendant telling him "If you have to ask how much gas costs, you can't afford it."

"The New Yorker - On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons (1925-2009)" is one of those books that are like a time capsule of how things are in America and how the public felt about the economy at that time.

One thing that I've noticed in the book is how back in the earlier years, there was so much detail in the cartoons drawn back then versus the more simpler style of today. But nevertheless, the book is quite entertaining and pictures are nice and large, text easy to read and for the most part, the book is straightforward in its showcase of cartoons from 1925-2009. You do get an introduction by Malcom Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point".

Overall, if you are a fan of the cartoons shown in the publication or those drawn to cartoons from yesteryear, this nice, large, hardbound book is definitely one that is easy to recommend and seeing how things today, may not be so different in terms of public sentiment as they were throughout the decades.

Definitely recommended!

For as long as there has been the modern version of the economy, there have been people paying attention to it, worrying about it, and making commentary on it. It can be both refreshing and alarming to know that people have always been concerned about the economy.

On the Money is a collection of cartoons from the New Yorker commenting on the state of business in America. From the stock market crash of the 20's and depression of the 30's to the dot-com boom of the 90's, it's all here including the as-yet unfinished first decade of the new millennium.

Some of the cartoons are timeless. Two men see an executive fall past their window and one says: "Why, that's Prescott! Suppose he knows something we don't know?" Or: A man in a ski mask says to his wife as he walks out the door: "Need anything from the bank?"

Some require a basic knowledge of the economy at the time. A woman hands a homeless man a coin and says: "You poor fellow! The stock market, I suppose?" to which he responds: "No, lady, I was always a bum. Or: A man looks out to sea and witnesses the sun in the shape of a giant ".com" dipping below the horizon.

Some are from the stand point of the businessman. A manager says to and employee: "These new regulations will fundamentally change the way we get around them." Or: A businessman has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, the angel says: "Run it by legal," and the devil says: "Run it by accounting."

Some are from the stand point of the everyman. While an infant plays on the floor, a woman hands her husband a note and says: "Darling, here's the bill from the hospital. One more installment and the baby's ours." Or: While looking at a gorilla wearing a janitors' uniform, a zookeeper says to a guest: "With the budget cuts and then the personnel layoffs, we've has to ask everyone to pitch in."

Unfortunately some aren't completely timeless. There are some older cartoons that I don't get at all. I don't know if it's because I'm not an expert on the history of the economy, or if it's because they have an old fashioned sense of humor, but either way they went right past me.

Now don't worry, I didn't give away all the good cartoons. There's over 250 pages with one or two cartoons on each. And no matter what your economic status is, I bet you can find some you can relate to.

This is a nice, hefty, hardbound book printed on matte, no glare, easy to read pages. Most folks may find this book interesting since it provides a time machine to economic cartoons over eight decades. I found the cartoons from periods of economic crisis and uncertainty (1930's, 1970's, 2000's) particularly eye opening because they provide some insights to the mindsets of cartoonists'/public's perceptions of the economy/money at that time. There are references to past Fed chairmen, Volcker and Greenspan, fat cats, poor slobs, wasteful government, greedy bankers, dirty politicians, etc., etc. Overall this book is more of a collection of intriguing editorial cartoons on U.S. economic history rather than straight out belly-busting humor. It's certainly worthy of a place on the coffee table for family and friends to browse through.

The cartoons from the Depression era may not make sense to younger readers,but to Boomers (and those pre-Boomers who lived through it), the older cartoons put today's economic mess in perspective. The cartoons are an interesting look at money...who's got it, who's losint it, who never had it...over almost a century of New Yorker cartoons. It's funny, fascinating and a great gift for those with an interest in the stock market and finance in general. It's funny how those cartoons from the 20s and 30s still have a cutting edge today. And there is one important lesson to be learned from this book: no matter what the era, going broke can be hilarious -- when it happens to somebody else.

This 2009 book (edited by New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff) collects cartoons from the New Yorker's long history about finance, economics, and just money. As usual with the New Yorker, there's a decided tilt towards cartoons about either "big business" (a bunch of guys in suits around a table) or "the rich" (either two men sitting in club chairs, or some kind of swanky party). This particular New Yorker collection, I have to say, stints hugely on the guy-on-a-desert-island cartoon.

So this is somewhat an updated and supersized new edition of the The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons (published in 1991), organized by decade and substantially longer. If you're looking for the definitive collection of New Yorker-style "drawings" about bankers, conspicuous consumption, and the idle rich, this is it. If you can't stand New Yorker cartoons, this probably won't change your mind.

I bought this for my son for Christmas. He's getting a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has taught an Econ 101 class there for undergrads, and graduate economics seminars, and I thought he might be able to use some of these cartoons for lectures or for classes, his own or the ones he teaches.

He loves New Yorker cartoons and liked the cartoons in this book, he said, but as he's only 24 he said he didn't understand some of them as he didn't have the context for them. He said he thought it would help if the person receiving this as a gift was older and lived through some of the time periods to understand the jokes more. So, keep that in mind when purchasing these. I suggested to him to feel free to re-gift it to one of his professors who would understand them more. He thought that was a good suggestion....

This book was a great historical review of our economy, told through New Yorker comics. The book would be a great gift or buy for anyone who is interested in economics, comics, The New Yorker, or US History.

THE NEW YORKER is just as famous for the pieces of written prose found within its pages as it is for the cartoons that are scattered throughout. The magazine has cartoons that comment on everything from education, religion, sex, and pop culture. But the economy is probably the issue that cartoons in the magazine tackle most often. THE NEW YORKER: ON THE MONEY is a collection of cartoons selected from the magazine from 1925-2009. It contains work by over 60 different artists covering a span of over 8 decades. Some of the cartoons are seen from the vantage point of business people, some from the viewpoint of the working class, others from the poor and destitute. Like the magazine in general and the cartoons in each issue specifically, some of the cartoons are hilarious and some make very little sense at all.

Upon reading the book, two things intrigued me the most. The first is how one could both gain a bit of historical perspective by reading the comics. There are a few comics in every decade which are very time-specific. Jokes about the Great Depression won't make sense to someone in the 21st Century who has no direct connection to that time, nor will jokes about the super inflation of the 1970s or jokes from the late 1990s and early 2000s about the "dot com" boom and bust. A person with some knowledge about history will appreciate these cartoons more than someone with not historical interest.

The other thing I found interesting is how little the humor of THE NEW YORKER cartoons have changed over time. Other than first few years of strips from the 1920s and the handful of strips from each era that require some historical knowledge, the majority of the cartoons could have been written anytime from the 1920s until today. It could be said that this shows that the cartoons in THE NEW YORKER are just as relevant today as they were 85 years ago. I disagree. I think it shows that the editors of the cartoons in THE NEW YORKER just like to keep with things they know are safe; you can see the same joke retold in a different format told not only across the different decades, but told several times in the same decade. The jokes are funny the first few times you read them, but after awhile I found myself thinking, "Can't these guys come up with something new?"

THE NEW YORKER: ON THE MONEY includes a nice introduction by author Malcolm Gladwell (he of THE TIPPING POINT fame). I enjoyed the essay. It gave me a more appreciation for some of the comics than I would have had if I had just read the book without reading the introduction.

Overall, THE NEW YORKER: ON THE MONEY is a decent collection of economic cartoons. Some of them provide a glimpse into the historical record, but the many are just rehashes of the same joke told over and over. Fans of THE NEW YORKER cartoons might enjoy the book and anyone who enjoys cartoons and comics in general might want to examine the book.