Dr. Seuss Goes to War

Dr Seuss role during the 2nd world war has been a bit controversial, though he realised his mistake later and apologised for it. This is a collection of most of his editorial cartoons related to the 2nd world war. There is a chapter-based narrative, which is cross-referenced to the cartoons. The compilation and the narrative are done quite well. However, I was a bit disappointed - probably I expected more spicy cartoons, in today's more acidic style. But then, Dr Seuss belongs to gentler times. Two trouble spots need to be mentioned: one is Dr Seuss' anti-Japanese sentiment, so much so that he saw American Japanese as a Fifth Column, waiting to blow up US. This disturbing thought is uncannily similar to the sentiment expressed frequently in US of today. The other is his lack of nuanced comment on the world beyond. India's value is seen only as cannon fodder for the war effort. Nevertheless, an enjoyable book, if anything then just for its ability to transport you back into the US of 1940s.

This is an enjoyable book. It's entertaining and not for modern cartoon readers who into manga or such.

Very funny insight into the politics and humour of a time that we mostly learn about from museums. This gives something missing in the museum by showing you something of what the average people were reading.

I teach American History at university, and loved this book. It provides a collection of Dr. Seuss' best editorial cartoons from the 1930s and early 1940s, and before he joined the army during WW 2 where he (and Mel Blanc) created "educational" films for the army in the Pacific (e.g. Private Snafu)...and for the Army of Occupation in Japan. He was very much an activist, creating scathing cartoon commentaries about the dangers of racism (vs. Black Americans and Jews), of Isolationism, of the 1930s America First movement, as well as scathing cartoons about Hitler, Mussolini (always a little figure compared to other Axis figures), and Hirohito ... not to mention self-absorbed and self-centered American politicans--some of whom have been in news stories about the history of racism and isolationism as part of understanding today's current events (e.g. voting restsrictions/suppression). With permissioin I will be including some of these in my class lecture PPTs to illustrate American attitudes moving into and during WW 2. The power in this book, however, is his contextualizing and explaining the references for every cartoon. In this he provides a powerful history lesson as well. I had already been pointing to Seuss' 1950s books as social commentaries (e.g. environmentalism with the Lorax), but Minear provides new insight (with quotes from Dr. Seuss) about other favorites. Yertle the Turtle? Barely concealed Hitler (Yertle originally had a Hitler moustache), or Horton hearing the little people of Whoville ... aka the little people who let their voice be heard via the vote. I highly recommend this excellent book--the first to really collect, explain, and publish his excellent work. P.s.--Yes, he drew racist depictions of Asians, specifically Japanese...but context matters ... he was expressing the attitudes of most Americans at this time. Japanhad attacked us, after all. And we were at war with them. WW 2 was a horrifically racist war, and this is evident in his WW 2 drawings Remember--we rounded up and put west-coast Japanese into concentration camps during the war...another manifestation of this Asian racism.

This is more for adult fans of Dr Seuss, especially those who are interested in his career before writing the famous children's books.