American Comics, Jeremy Dauber
American Comics, Jeremy Dauber
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American Comics
A History

Author: Jeremy Dauber

Narrator: Jeremy Dauber

Unabridged: 17 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/29/2022

Synopsis

This is the sweeping story of cartoons, comic strips, and graphic novels and their century-long hold on the American imagination.Starting with the Civil War and cartoonist Thomas Nast, creator of the lasting images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, Jeremy Dauber whizzes listeners through the progress of comics in the twentieth century and beyond. Follow the history from the golden age of newspaper comic strips—Krazy Kat, Yellow Kid, Dick Tracy—to the midcentury superhero boom—Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman—and from the moral panic of the Eisenhower era to the underground comix movement; from the grim and gritty Dark Knights and Watchmen to the graphic novel’s brilliant rise—Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel, Joe Sacco.Dauber’s story shows not only how comics have changed but also how American politics and history have changed them. Throughout he describes the origins of beloved comics, champions neglected masterpieces, and argues that we can understand how America sees itself through whose stories comics tell.

About Jeremy Dauber

Jeremy Dauber is a professor of Jewish literature and American studies at Columbia University. He is the author of Jewish Comedy and The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem, both finalists for the National Jewish Book Award. He lives in New York City

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alan on July 03, 2022

American Comics, Jeremy Dauber's massive and comprehensive history of (wait for it) American comics, labors under one significant shortcoming—an issue that will be immediately apparent to anyone, even if you're just flipping through pages at random: there is not one single picture in the entire volu......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on January 11, 2023

From The Yellow Kid (1895) to Watchmen (1986), from Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland) to Robert Crumb (Zap, Fritz the Cat, The Book of Genesis) and all points in between; 592 pages of dense text and not one goddamn illustration. But if you’re serious about the storied history of American com......more

Goodreads review by Dave on March 16, 2022

Dauber's exhaustive deep dive into the history of American comics is all encompassing and very thorough from the one panel Yellow Kid through the modern comic book "floppies" of current 2020's. Dauber even covers the underground comics and the formation of the graphic novel.......more

Goodreads review by Trevor on January 22, 2022

In case you've been living under a rock the past few years or so, you're well aware that we live in an age of superheroes. Specifically, superheroes created in the pages of the comic books, who are now all over the damn place (big screen, small screen, the internet, and even still on the pages of co......more

Goodreads review by Martin on July 13, 2023

Continuing my to-read backlog, this one speaks directly to half-century (and counting) love of the genre. As an avid fan, quite a good bit of Dauber's very indepth narrative was known to me. Still, there are always new facts to learn and little-known stories to be revealed. That was my target for re......more

Quotes

“Dauber’s scholarly survey of comic history is opinionated and frequently funny.” New York Times Book Review

“Makes a compelling argument that we can view, through the lens of comics’ content, how America sees itself.” Washington Independent Review of Books

“His perceptive, critical overview is enlivened by a jaunty style that bops from the political cartoons of Thomas Nast in the 1860s to the demise of an equally influential gadfly, Mad magazine, in 2018.” Wall Street Journal

“Shows just how much there is to appreciate in this uniquely American history.” New York Journal of Books

“[An] outstanding encyclopedic survey…A thorough—and thoroughly entertaining—work.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Comics and cartoons play a major role in everyday American life. However, no one has ever tied this history closer to societal events and told it in a more sweeping manner than Dauber.” Library Journal (starred review)

“Dauber brilliantly excavates the story of this art form―warts and all―from its origins right up to the twenty-first century, and strikes cartoon gold…Be prepared to to be enlightened anew.” Peter Kuper, award-winning cartoonist and graphic novelist

Awards

  • New York Times Book Review pick
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