Talk to the Hand: A Doonesbury Collection (Doonesbury Book) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by G. B. Trudeau (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"[Trudeau ranks as] one of the foremost sociopolitical satirists of recent decades."

Product Description
History will never forget the Kahleefornia recall debacle, which jerk-presses Arnold "the Gropenfuhrer" Schwarzenegger to a position of power, despite the unexplained existence of dozens of women claiming to have been sexually assulted by him. Among the hundreds of also-rans and also-almost-rans are Zonker Harris and his mom. While some in the Doonesbury universe seek office, others serve. Alex and her Seattle co-hordes devote their young young, restless, and body-pierced Deaniac energy to hooking up "flash art" with politics. Half a world away in Iraq, a magor bad boy from stateside devotes himself to liberating the city of Al Amok, ruling with a steady hand, a full glass, a devoted Chinese handler, and an economy based on looting. As fate would have it, B.D. finds himself heading upriver on an apocalyptic mission to terminate Al Duke with extreme prejudice, a story line so made-for-TV that B.D. feels compelled to bang out the screenplay on his laptop in real time. Fortunately for the man known to Honey as "sir," the media red-lights the hit, though car bombers quickly pick up the option and put the project back in play. In the homeland, a wartime president has the answer to almost all the questions ("9-11") but tries to shelve the still incomplete story of his own National Guard duty back in the daze. Mark and Zonk join the war against trash politics by offering a $10,000 reward for any witness who can collaborate the flightsuit-in-chief's account, but their efforts, alas, come to naught. Yes, it's a divided nation. On the west coast sexual assault charges accompany a rise to power, while back east they mandate a fall: Walden College's acting coach, Boopstein, lets accusations of way-personal fouls force her football team off the field. Sex parties for recruits? "Who knew we were that competitive?" marvels President King, ending Boopsie's gridiron apprenticeship with two little words: "You're fired."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740746715
• ISBN-13: 978-0740746710
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #389,383 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Work Mr. Trudeau!, April 2, 2005

By	Spri "American Hero" (NY) - See all my reviews

Doonesbury is a mainstay in my life. Just recently have I become a fan and just recently have I picked up almost all the books in order to keep myself up to date.

The political satire involving several major characters over so many years IN REAL TIME is really something to tip your hat to.

This book in particular deals with Arnold's reign of governatorship and the farciful laughs behind his groping of women beforehand, hence his Doonesbury Name "Herr Gropenfuhrer." He is shown as a large groping hand instead of the muscle-bound oldie-but-goodie we all know and love him to be.

More than anything else, this piece chronicles mainstay B.D.'s final days in Iraq as a militaryman. His last helmet is taken off by EMT's who nurse him after a shell-blast has taken off his leg. Stirring stuff and easily my favorite Doonesbury saga.

5.0 out of 5 stars "...in some small,meaningless way,I'll miss having you around.", August 16, 2006

By	J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Another great Doonesbury production! Trudeau continues to keep up imaginative satire on the American scene.Whether you lean to the left or to the right; you just gotta admit Trudeau is a master of satire. Who but Trudeau would think of representing muscle man Schwartzenegger as "The Hand",and then to really drive the satire in a bit more--call him "Herr Gropenfuhrer"?
Then there's President Bush with his Roman -style War Helmut.Anyone can associate a Cowboy Hat with Bush ;but it takes Trudeau's genius to come up with this helmut.
My one regret about this period is that we didn't get a character of John Dean.Maybe he was just too much for Trudeau to handle without going "TILT".
This seemed to be the period of losses all the way around.Walden loses its Football team and coach,it's very raison d'entre,Zonker loses his chance to run for Governor of California,B.D loses a leg , Duke almost loses Honey to an Iraqi and on top of it all; too many good soldiers lose their lives in Iraq. And we call this a Comic Strip. I have been following the strips since I was a kid. I cut my teeth on Dick Tracey and Pogo . I still follow Tracey,but sadly we have lost the satire of Pogo and the swamp. Life was a lot simpler in those days. One thing was ,we knew who the enemy was; "it was us." in Pogo .In Tracey, it was Mumbles,Flattop,Pruneface or their ilk; and we could trust Tess,Junior, Gravel Gertie and the Police Chief.
I still have a positive criticism on the Doonesbury books,though. It is a shame that the strips are not all in color. They were all colored in my newspaper .The artwork is an
important and extremely good element of this strip and reading it in black and white is like looking at a sunset without its color.Even the sillouettes!
Anyway,fans of Doonesbury will love this book.