Revenge of the Latchkey Kids: An Illustrated Guide to Surviving the '90s and Beyond [Paperback]

Ted Rall (Author), Jules Feiffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 1998

Angry, unappeasable, and funny as hell, Ted Rall is a mind to pay attention to, a one-on-one freelance revolutionary who sees through the hyperbole and hypocrisies of our society with a clear and unflinching eye. Syndicated as both a cartoonist and columnist through Universal Press Syndicate, he reaches more than 100 papers and magazines, and his most recent graphic novel, The Worst Thing I've Ever Done, won a Firecracker Alternative Book Award.

Formerly titled Kill Your Parents Before They Kill You, Revenge of the Latchkey Kids is an illustrated manifesto for surviving the 90s and beyond, with 24 chapters of edgy insight, personal histories, advice, and cartoons. It is, in the words of Jules Feiffer, "a spicy stew of high-handed judgments-part drawing, part essay, part memoir-confession, part tantrum. The text is the thing. Funny, fractious here and there, nasty now and then, brilliant." Among topics on Ted's mind are "College Is for Suckers," "Gen Xploitation," "Making the Most of Your Dead-End Job," "Relationship Tips for the Sexless," and, in a rallying cry only a true subversive could love, "Bring On the Stock Market Crash." Bring on Ted Rall.

Introduction by Jules Fieffer.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ted Rall is pissed off. He has issues. He will never succeed with such a bad attitude--or maybe he already has. Revenge of the Latchkey Kids distills Rall's vast torrent of negative emotions into a passionate litany of what's screwed up in America today. If you're a Gen-Xer who suffered through the parental experiments of the 1970s, or ever slaved for meager pay and no benefits as a temp, or wondered when you'd ever pay off your student loans, Rall will hit a nerve. And then hit it again. And keep hitting it.

It would be simple to dismiss Rall as a whiner if he weren't so right all the time. Furthermore, at the risk of sounding like one of his cartoons, Rall performs a vital social function: he presents a point of view other than that of the demographic 800-pound gorilla, the baby boomer. Rall has no pity for that generation, which he sees as self-indulgent, hypocritical, and well, evil. But the cartoonist is an evenhanded demonizer: Gen-X fares little better; it's clear Rall has no illusions as to what nightmares would ensue if he and his compatriots ran things.

Revenge of the Latchkey Kids is a howl of anger--in perfect pitch. Ted Rall serves up an opinion you won't get anywhere else. Get some before he gives up.

Review

"(Revenge) plants well-aimed kicks on deserving corporate and baby-boomer behinds." (Entertainment Weekly)

"REVENGE features Rall's withering prose and angry, angular cartoons. He's funny. He's honest. He's onto something." (Arthur Salm, San Diego Tribune)

"Clever, biting, and all too true." (Elaine Beebe, The Salem Register Guard)

"More than an essayist and cartoonist, Rall is anthropologist, psychologist, and perhaps revolutionary." (Chris Davis, The Memphis Flyer)

"Rall is one of the fiercest, most unusual satirists producing cartoons for American newspapers today." -- Reviews

The sporadically funny result plants well-aimed kicks on deserving corporate and baby-boomer behinds. But in the end, his seething social observations resolve themselves into a one-note whine. -- Entertainment Weekly, L.S. Klepp

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761107452
• ISBN-13: 978-0761107453
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,317,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ted Rall is one of the nation's most outspoken left-of-center pundits. Though best known as one of America's most controversial and widely syndicated political cartoonists, he is also an acclaimed columnist, author and war correspondent. Twice the winner of the RFK Journalism Award and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Rall traveled to Afghanistan during the fall 2001 U.S. invasion, where he drew and wrote "To Afghanistan and Back," the first book of any kind about the war. He was also one of the first journalists to declare the war effort doomed, writing in The Village Voice in December 2001 that the occupation had already been lost.

Rall's latest book is a graphic novel memoir, "The Year of Loving Dangerously," wth Pablo G. Callejo, about his journey from Ivy League college student to homeless bed-hopper during the long hot summer of 1984 in New York City.

Inspired after meeting pop artist Keith Haring in a Manhattan subway station in 1986, Rall began posting his cartoons on New York City streets. He eventually picked up 12 small clients, including NY Weekly and a poetry review in Halifax, Nova Scotia, through self-syndication. In 1990, he returned to Columbia University to resume his studies, from which he graduated with a bachelor of arts with honors in history in 1991. (His honors thesis was about American plans to occupy France as an enemy power at the end of World War II.) Later that year, Rall's cartoons were signed for national syndication by San Francisco Chronicle Features, which is no longer in business. He moved to Universal Press Syndicate in 1996.

His cartoons now appear in more than 100 publications around the United States, including the Los Angeles Times, Tucson Weekly, SF Weekly, Pasadena Weekly, Toledo City Paper and MAD Magazine.

Rall considers himself a neo-traditionalist who uses a unique drawing style to revive the aggressive approach of Thomas Nast, who viewed editorial cartoons as a vehicle for change. His focus is on issues important to ordinary working people--he keeps a sign asking "What do actual people care about?" above his drafting table--such as un- and underemployment, the environment and popular culture, but also comments on political and social trends.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wise man shares his wisdom, May 16, 2000

By 

"somestuff" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Revenge of the Latchkey Kids: An Illustrated Guide to Surviving the '90s and Beyond (Paperback)

Ted Rall is a great guy who just happens to be a little angry. Fortunately he's learned to funnel this into a fantastic book which I highly recommend. If you've ever in any way found yourself disgruntled with a terrible workplace or happen to be a latch key kid yourself, this book will speak a lot of truth to you. It's clever and funny and I can't wait for Ted Rall's next tome.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very average, July 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Revenge of the Latchkey Kids: An Illustrated Guide to Surviving the '90s and Beyond (Paperback)

Although there were some items of amusement, for the most part, this book is rather cliche and the artwork lacks clarity. As a relative newcomer to the scene, however, this young man (I assume he is in his 20s) may have a bright future in the world of satire once he develops a unique outlook of his own and a bit more life experience from which to "draw" on.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for the new millenium, March 25, 2000

By 

Alan Char (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revenge of the Latchkey Kids: An Illustrated Guide to Surviving the '90s and Beyond (Paperback)

Ted Rall succeeds where Scott Adams fails. These cartoons are the biting real-life social commentary that Dilbert likes to think it is. Burn those Dilbert books and buy more Ted Rall.