David Levine (1) (1926–2009)

I saw this as a Bonus Borrow on Hoopla and thought, why not? It's a quick breeze through history by way of caricatures of U.S. presidents, politicians, government officials, and Supreme Court justices. There are a few sentences of text here and there providing context, but the images pretty much speak for themselves and are pretty spot-on, with most of the figures being instantly recognizable even without the handy labels. Since Levine is an editorial cartoonist, there is an emphasis on presidential scandals throughout.

I think this is only going to be of interest to history majors and older folks though. (I"m both!)… (more)

If Levine wasn't the greatest political caricaturist of the twentieth century, his rivals for the position could be sent in on a postcard. He combined a rather Victorian style of drawing with a contemporary whimsy to good effect. He is most associated with the lefty New York Review of Books, but he often demonstrates only a mild agenda which has aged well (well, usually--sixties leftists were off-target with devices such as Barry Goldwater's Nazi salute and Hubert Humphrey with a Hitler mustache). The book's minimal, occasionally wry captions could probably be a little more informative for younger readers, if any; almost all of the figures depicted will be familiar to the middle-aged and beyond, but even for them there are a few head-scratchers.… (more)