Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year

There is nothing better than a good editorial cartoon to put the current situation in the proper perspective. As someone who is a political junkie and conscious during the 1980's I recognized each of the situations represented by these cartoons. Using images and very simple text, the cartoonists were able to get their message across in a forceful way. If you remember the 1980's, you will enjoy this frolic back to those times. However, if you don't know the history well, then most of them will make no sense to you.

Mikhail Gorbachev is the poster boy for the cover of "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 1986" because he was the third leader of the Soviet Union in a two-and-a-half year period and the first to be a member of a younger generation. However, while the world was only beginning to know Gorby, who was only beginning to start his revolutionary change in his country that would see the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the star of this collection of editorial cartoons is still Ronald Reagan, who in 1985 had a comeback from colon cancer surgery, unveiled a tax reform plan, pushed for the Strategic Defense Initiative (a.k.a. "Star Wars"), and had his first summit with Gorbachev. That was the year that a TWA 747 was hijacked on a flight from Athens to Rome, David Stockman resigned as Director of the OMB, the famine in Ethiopia continued, and Lebanon was the hot spot in the Middle East. Apartheid was starting to crumble in South Africa, Reagan placed a wreath at the military cemetery in the German town of Bitburg, and the world was treated to New Coke. Throw into the mix the commonplaces of contemporary political life, from the economy, health care, and crime to Congress, sports and religion. You will be surprised how much of these people and events come back to mind and you enjoy these cartoons. There are five cartoons by my favorite all-time editorial cartoonist, Jeff MacNelly of the "Chicago Tribune," who won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize. You will also find choice efforts from Bill Day, Jim Borgman, Kirk Walters, Mike Luckovich, and Ed Gamble. Besides taking these walks down memory lane flipping through these books always introduces you to some pretty good editorial cartoonists who are published in newspapers other than the one you read.The 350 editorial cartoons by more than 130 of the nation's leading editorial cartoons were collected by editorial Charles Brooks. The book also has a foreword by Congressman Jack Kemp, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback and then Congressman from New York, who noted "No one had ever seen a cartoon poling fun at Mikhail Gorbachev in "Pravda" or "Krokodil," and that fact speaks volumes..."