William Morrow The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution "To teach and to delight" -- I first read Charles Lamb quote Sir Philip Sydney quote Horace on the role of literature (poetry, specifically), and for me, this graphic history succeeds wonderfully in both teaching and delighting the reader, regardless of that reader's age. I told myself that I was buying this book for my two boys to read in the future, but I truly enjoyed the history lessons presented with irony and a touch of satirical wit to top it off. I'm new to the whole genr'e of graphic novels (AKA cartoons, comics, manga, etc.), but when I read "MAUS" some years ago, I started opening my mind to them--and I'm glad I did. I've ordered more in Larry Gonick's history series and look forward to learning and delighting in them. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL AGES!!!

Nice book .

The Good: The story redistributes usual takes on the Age of Exploration by focusing on Cortes and Meso-American while taking some undeserved focus off Columbus and Magellan, both of whom are traditionally used as landmarks in the timeline. The Lutheran Reformation and the effects it creates are explained fairly well for the uninitiated as well as the first two modern European attempts at republicanism, namely Cromwell's Commonwealth (although it was almost a veiled monarchy) and the Netherlands. The sections about the intricate politics during Carlos V's reign was an especially nice part of this. The coverage of America's effect on European politics, as well as India's role in all this is a VERY welcome departure from typical accounts, which shows that Mr. Gonick's work isn't revisionist at all- it's accurately world-oriented. But credit is still given to the West's new Enlightenment-era thinkers as well as the more immediate effects of their theorizing, something that many historians seem to trip on. The Bad: It was a shame to see less coverage of Portugal's (and later other European countries) effects on Africa, which sets the stage for almost everything that happens in Africa from this point on. That Mr. Gonick didn't cover the further spread of the Ming, ongoing contact with the West, the beginning of the Manchu people, or the short but very interesting flare-up of Western culture and technology in Japan seems a terrible shame even if these will be topics covered in the next volume. A few more Enlightenment thinkers could have been more closely examined as well as the noticeable absence of Russia and Eastern Europe in all this commotion. Again, while much of this may be included by the author in the next volume, even a few passing mentions would have lent a lot more strength to how Mr. Gonick lives to weave these overlapping threads of history together. The Ugly: Just about anyone reading this book who follows modern politics will find at least a dozen (if not more) veiled references to the state of current foreign policy, especially in Iraq. It is arguable, however, how much of a role relating past history to current events is, but the author could have either been more upfront or otherwise tabled the entire theme. With that said, even the subtle references to how superpowers fall and the contributing factors in their leaderships' foreign policy, are a nice added touch to how relevant the history in this volume is to our modern world.

The trouble with history teaching in schools, especially nowadays, is it is too deep and not wide enough. So you'll learn for example all about the industrial revolution in Shropshire in the 18th century and nothing aboout what was going on in other parts of the world at the same time, or what happened thousands of years previously. What Larry Gonick's series does is provide the width. If your history knowledge is basic, you'll learn a lot, very quickly. If you're history knowledge goes to PhD level, you'll still learn a lot because these books will fill in the gaps for you. If you're in the first category you'll love the humour and how easy these books are to read. If you're in the latter category, you'll be impressed that the back of each book contains a proper bibliography. Hugely impressive. Very readable.

Always funny and informative.