Between the Wars, 1919-1939 The Cartoonists Vision

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The years between the wars were the great age of the cartoon character. The adventures of Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and Donald Duck were followed avidly by millions. Even the political leaders of the era were known to millions as cartoon characters--gawky, bespectacled Woodrow Wilson, balloon-like Mussolini, and the moustache men--Hitler, Stalin, Neville Chamberlain, and Ramsey Macdonald. Comic, mordant, and irreverent, political cartoons reveal more about popular concerns in this period of rising nationalism and aggression than most official documents or journalism. Published in newspapers and magazines with wide circulations, they "made sense" to the ordinary reader. Over fifty years later, that sense of immediate identification has been lost, and these political cartoons now need detailed explanation. International in scope,Between the Warscovers all the great political and social issues of the interwar years, as they were revealed through the cartoonists' eyes. RoyDouglas's greatest gift is for concise, clear explanation, placing each cartoon into its historical context. Douglas traces the decay of hope in the 1920s as it became fear of war in the early 1930s and determination that Fascism "must be stopped" at the end of the decade. These cartoons, intended for the man and woman "on the street" in Europe, North America, the Soviet Union, and Asia, mirror changing attitudes and beliefs as these nations prepared for war.