Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoon of Theodor Seuss Geisel. By Richard H. Minear. (New York: The New Press, 1999. Pp. 240. $25.00.)

Abstract

Famed author Dr. Seuss (a.k.a. Theodor Geisel) is known and loved for his whimsical children's stories such as The Cat in the Hat and Fox in Socks. Serious students of Seuss might be aware of his tendency to include profound moral commentary in his deceptively simple tales such as in The Sneetches (racial tolerance), The Lorax (environmental responsibility), and The Butter Battle Book (nuclear war). Few of Dr. Seuss' many fans, however, are aware of Ted Geisel's stint (1941-1943) as a World War II political cartoonist for New York's left wing newspaper, PM. This ignorance is exactly what Richard M. Minear, Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, aims to change through his book, Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel