On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons, 1925-2009

Wov!! So entertaining. Very witty cartoons about the economy. Great satire. All the years and decades covered wonderfully. Great book. I really enjoyed it. The size is good, and easy to read and enjoy. I like the older decades better than recent ones. It is hard bound and quality is very good.

Actually I debated between giving this 4 or 5 stars. For my tastes, the unvarying focus on money is best apppreciated in smaller doses, but in the end, I think it's like buying a book of dog cartoons -- you need to *really* like dogs. All the familiar New Yorker stalwarts are here, Peter Arno, Charles Addams and Whitney Darrow as well as contemporaries of theirs with which I was not as familiar, and the new generation of cartoonists currently appearing in the magazine. The cartoons range from the 1920s to this year. On the whole, the most enjoyable era is the 1930s through the 1950s. The 20s are tentative as the artform is being developed, and the generational change in the 60s was not, in my opinion, an improvement. This being the New Yorker, there is a long introductory essay, which I did not read -- I feel that cartoons either stand on their own or do not. On the whole these hold up quite well, though you may wish to read a few pages at a time.

The New Yorker magazine has always been a source for well-written articles for over 80 years and but also, the publication has also been a great source to find the latest cartoons on various situations happening in American culture. May it be politics, religions and also the economy. From the economy starting out in 1925 and the Great Depression of 1929 to the recession of 2009, with "The New Yorker - On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons (1925-2009)", you get over 250 pages of cartoons from various decades. Personally, one of the most intriguing parts of the book that I was look forward to was to see how the economy during the 1920's was depicted in the publication. From the lady who lends a beggar some money saying "You poor fellow! The stock market, I suppose?" and the man responding with "No, lady, I was always a bum." Or the 1930's with a woman sitting on her husband's lap during the the theater saying to the woman's next to them "We're on a budget". And of course, when you make it to the 1980's during the bubble economy, and the cartoons showing how the Republication 80's favored the rich with one cartoon showing a man telling another "I suppose one could say it favors the rich, but, on the other hand, it's a great incentive for everyone to make two hundred grand a year." And of course, this decade with cartoons with one man at a bar telling the bartender "I fell like a man trapped in a woman's salary." and a woman telling her boyfriend (or husband) with another couple coming to visit, "I forget - are these your friends where we pretend we make more money than we actually do, or less?". And another cartoon with a man coming to a gas station and the attendant telling him "If you have to ask how much gas costs, you can't afford it." "The New Yorker - On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons (1925-2009)" is one of those books that are like a time capsule of how things are in America and how the public felt about the economy at that time. One thing that I've noticed in the book is how back in the earlier years, there was so much detail in the cartoons drawn back then versus the more simpler style of today. But nevertheless, the book is quite entertaining and pictures are nice and large, text easy to read and for the most part, the book is straightforward in its showcase of cartoons from 1925-2009. You do get an introduction by Malcom Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point". Overall, if you are a fan of the cartoons shown in the publication or those drawn to cartoons from yesteryear, this nice, large, hardbound book is definitely one that is easy to recommend and seeing how things today, may not be so different in terms of public sentiment as they were throughout the decades. Definitely recommended!

This collection of cartoons about the world of finance includes cartoons from 1925 through 2009. They are, as you would expect, quite amusing - some are outright funny, some are a bit wry, and others have a bit of a barb to their humor. The short Introduction by Malcolm Gladwell is well-done. He distinguishes between Realists and Romantics and makes the point that Realists may make more money, but Romantics enjoy the last laugh. If you like the humor of The New Yorker, you can't go wrong with this collection. Enjoy!

I loved this book for two reasons. FIRST, the cartoons included here are first-rate works by first-rate cartoonists. Some hilarious, some sardonic, some ironic, some sad, some polite, some too polite, some relatively wild and impolite, some very cruel... but never boring. Also, featured here are works by some great cartoonists like Charles Addams, Charles Barsotti, Harry Bliss and George Booth. These people are as good as you can get. SECOND, this is a great way to explore the evolution of both style and content in cartoons through the decades. You can clearly see an evolution in humor: older material is more subtle, elegant, gentle and thought-provoking while newer material seems to be more acid, faster and laughter-inducing. Graphically, there seem to be differences in techniques. Older stuff shows works that are harder to draw while newer material tends to be minimalistic and precise. The visuals depicted are also interesting because of the way they reflect fashion, objects and things that clearly show a particular era. I admit that I missed a couple of the older cartoons because I do not fully grasp some of the facts behind them. Nevertheless, I did enjoy them. Recommended!