Stephen Hess (1) (1933–)

An excellent read! As a follower of politics and history, I thought that I was well versed in this subject. I can hardly believe how much Hess has added so much to my understanding. For example, I was not aware that there has been seventy five American families in which three members of the same name have held national office over more than one generation. Hess covers all of these "dynasties", some well known, some not. As far as current events go, I was very interested in the current Bush and Clinton dynasty talk. As Hess states, "What is fascinating about the Bushes and Clintons in terms of background, style, and personality is that they have nothing in common except a burning desire to get elected president of the United States. A nice irony is that while the Clintons are not a dynasty but would like to be one, the Bushes are a dynasty but deny that they are one". I am thoroughly impressed with this book, and cannot recommend it strongly enough. Bravo, Mr. Hess!… (mer)

A short introduction to American political cartoons and their creators for the non-specialist. The book chapters take the reader through a chronological treatment of the basic outlines of the history of political cartooning. The main criticism of the book is that the reproductions are not high-quality and the size of the pages is relatively small (7 by 9 inches) so it is hard to appreciate the art itself. Political cartooning often contains important information and references in the details, to say nothing of the captions and other text, which is difficult to read at the quality and size of this book.… (mer)