A Right to Be Hostile: The Boondocks Treasury (Paperback)

~ (Author), Michael Moore (Author) "WE'VE BEEN WALKING FOR TEN MINUTES AND HAVEN'T PASSED ONE SUBWAY STOP, BALL COURT, CHINESE CARRY-OUT PLACE OR RIB SHACK!..." (more)
Key Phrases: The Boondocks, Universal Press Syndicate

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Here’s the first big book of The Boondocks, more than four years and 800 strips of one of the most influential, controversial, and scathingly funny comics ever to run in a daily newspaper.

“With bodacious wit, in just a few panels, each day Aaron serves up—and sends up—life in America through the eyes of two African-American kids who are full of attitude, intelligence, and rebellion. Each time I read the strip, I laugh—and I wonder how long The Boondocks can get away with the things it says. And how on earth can the most truthful thing in the newspaper be the comics?”
—From the foreword by Michael Moore

From the Inside Flap

Here?s the first big book of The Boondocks, more than four years and 800 strips of one of the most influential, controversial, and scathingly funny comics ever to run in a daily newspaper.

?With bodacious wit, in just a few panels, each day Aaron serves up?and sends up?life in America through the eyes of two African-American kids who are full of attitude, intelligence, and rebellion. Each time I read the strip, I laugh?and I wonder how long The Boondocks can get away with the things it says. And how on earth can the most truthful thing in the newspaper be the comics??
?From the foreword by Michael Moore

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400048575
• ISBN-13: 978-1400048571
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the Sad Reviewers....., November 12, 2003

By	"efoff" (Ecotopia) - See all my reviews

This comic works on several levels. First, Mr. McGruder is one of the most insightful political commentators today. His shots at Rush Limbaugh's hypocrisy, the Iraq war, the CIA "tip line." Second, while I have never met Mr. McGruder (nor have any hope of doing so), it is interesting watching the interplay of the four main characters, and imagining they represent four aspects of McGruder's psyche. The Grandfather, representing traditional values and history (fishing, homeownership, and Dorothy Dandridge (sp?)). Caesar, the creative, hip hop musical side. Riley, the struggle of coping with contemporary amerika's portrait of young black males--enjoying the thrills of being "bad," while ignoring how manipulated he really is. And Huey, my personal favorite, one of the last radical socialists in contemporary culture--an unapologetic leftist who is never not reading.....All four struggling to form a balance, a home on Timid Deer Lane....

The most important point though, is the strips are funny. If a comic isn't funny, you might as well be reading Mary Worth.

I did knock off one star, because this "treasury" suffers from the same marketing issues as the Bloom County books: Right to be Hostile has many, but not all, of the comics in the first two books. It also has comics that are *not* in the first two books. So, if you are a freakish, die hard, crazy fan--you need to buy all three books for a whole set. That's the only reason for removing a star (harsh, I know. But I'm an old crank).

As for two previous reviews, the person who called Michael Moore Mr. McGruder's "massa" is an insulting moron. His own prose demonstrates what a hopeless idiot he really is. The second review takes Mr. McGruder to task because Huey Freeman (named after Huey Newton, co-founder of the Back Panther Party) was upset about missing Kwanza--a holiday created by Dr. Karenga, founder of United Slaves (US). The reviewer is correct that US and the Party were enemies, and courtesy of J Edgar Hoover's FBI, US was outfitted with equipment & weapons, with the goal of destroying the Party. Karenga was (and probably still is) a dangerous, unsympathetic character. Nevertheless, I know many people who celebrate Kwanza for the message it carries--despite Karenga. If you read the strips, Huey is torn because he forgot kwanza--on the one hand, Huey is a radical socialist as opposed to a black cultural nationalist. Still, "Blackness" is his culture, and forgetting holiday was understandably upsetting--all of which led to my favorite strip, when Huey asks Riley for advice........My point is, Mr. McGruder is consistent, accurate, and draws a comic based on what he knows.

And is funny.

And Free Jolly Jenkins!

62 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some folks need to look up the definition of "satire", January 7, 2004

By	p_nice (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

I've read the often ill-informed negative reviews here and it seems that most of the people deriding Aaron Mcgruder's work a) Don't know the meaning or purpose of satire, b) Didn't really read the book, c) Just have a personal agenda to badmouth the man.

First of all, McGruder's probably reading all these negative reviews and laughing to himself, preparing to post them on his website or use them in future strips. Congratulations for giving the man more ammo to prove his point. If the nuances of satire (espcially the obvious satire contained in this strip) are lost on you then I advise you to stay far away from every single episode of The Simpsons.

Second, it's odd so many people leap to call McGruder a hipocrite or a racist or whatever and site examples from the book to back these statements up when said examples do no such thing. McGruder never sings the praises of Kwanzaa and in the book even Huey comes to the conclusion that, as a holiday, it needs a lot of work before it can be considered legitimate. Also, Huey is a broadly painted caricature of a black revolutionary and the fact that he is never taken seriously by other characters in the strip shows that McGruder is poking fun at yet another stereotypical figure: The overzealous, conspiracy theory nut. True his personal politics spill over into the strip but he is far from projecting himself into the character of Huey Freeman; an immature, loney and misguided kid. And those who think he's a racist must have overlooked the fact that he lampoons black people far more than he does anyone else. As far as the kung fu getups on the cover, so what? McGruder's always said his art was steeped in Anime tradition and Asians are one of the few groups he hasn't directed his wrath at. Complaints about the cover are just desperate nit-picking.

And last, there will always be those ready to tear down an artist for no other reason than they like to spit vitriol and hate toward anyone who's successful on their own terms. That they would actually take the time to read McGruder's work cover to cover for the sole purpose of blasting it online is pretty amazing . . . If I don't like something I just ignore it. But, then again, I'm not petty either. But I doubt anyone really takes these folks seriously anyway.

Like someone else said, if you're curious about the book and unsure, you can always flip through it in the store before you buy it. I suspect real fans of The Boondocks already have it on their coffee tables.

43 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bill Keane Must Die!, October 16, 2003

By A Customer

Political satire was often the theme for most early American comics. Not only were they insightful, but oftentimes they contained a sarcastic humor that is absent from many of today's comic strips. Squeaky clean, "family values" (ie: family circus)taints the media of today, afraid to be daring, or ironically, the least bit funny. Physical humor is in, but social humor is dead. Then comes the Boondocks...
With probably the most biting social commentary around, it brings White American politics to Black America. The results are Huey (the commited Socialist who sometimes get's too serious for his own good) and brother Riley (the product of corporate hip hop culture). This book isn't just for blacks, fans of hip hop, or political junkies, but anyone who is fed up Garfield sleeping, Doonsbury lacking, or Ziggy doing whatever the hell it is Ziggy does.

Aaron McGruder is a prime example of everything modern day cartoonists aren't, and that's a good thing.