The Cartoon Guide To Politics

Especially in a tense election season, it is important to know the political terms being thrown about. This book is a short dictionary of many of these, especially ones easily confused or misunderstood. The format is simple: a term is presented, with three different guesses as to the term’s meaning. The correct meaning is then given, along with the Wikipedia definition, followed by a portrait of one of the presidents and a memorable presidential quote. Each term is engagingly illustrated with humorous comics that help explain each character’s belief, as well as the true meaning of the political term.

The author’s definitions are not particularly clear; the Wikipedia entry is clear and sufficient. Additionally, this book suffers from poor editing, which occasionally obscures the characters’ statements and makes them difficult to understand. However, it was mainly neutral (the entry on ‘newspeak’ being the glaring and partisan exception) and the comics make the politics more accessible and palatable. The presidential quotations are an enjoyable addition, although it would have made more sense if the quotations had some relevance to the term being defined. This book is short and simple, and possibly helpful to those new to the political realm.