Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons Oft Theodor Seuss Geisel

If you've ever sniffed out sociopolitical subtexts in Dr. Seuss books — Yertle the Turtle as a parable about fascism, Horton Hatches the Egg as a defense of surrogate mothers, The Sneetchesas an allegory of racism — you won't be surprised that Seuss drew political cartoons for New York City's progressive daily newspaper PM during World War II. In Dr. Seuss Goes to War, U. Mass.-Amherst history professor Richard Minear archives Seuss' political work, which features his signature birds, turtles, and moose, along with a toothless-looking Hitler and, incongruously, appallingly caricatured Japanese-Americans. This is scathing, fascinating stuff, and with Minear's commentary, it provides a provocative history of wartime politics. A