Review

“During WWII, the U.S. was united as never before or since, with the entire civilian populace pitching in to support the war effort. That included the nation’s cartoon characters, who were enlisted in propaganda efforts designed to motivate the home front. ... An enlightening, entertaining glimpse at a less-remembered aspect of that much-documented era.”
- Gordon Flagg, Booklist

“Cartoons for Victory is a moving, time-transporting way to salute the troops past and present ... Bernard mines the times for an embarrassment of visual riches. ... From beginning to endpapers, this is a tour of art and duty well worth serving.”
- Michael Cavna, The Washington Post

“What could have been an ordinary collection of World War II-era political cartoons is instead a fascinating history lesson that breaks through boundaries between media. ... The result is an overview of news, politics and daily life in wartime America that is more informative than the history books that expressly explore that material. ... Cartoons for Victory was such a delight that the only way to make it better would be to make it longer.”
- Andrew A. Smith, Tribune News Service

“Warren Bernard’s gorgeous new collection of rare drawings from the war years, Cartoons for Victory, ...features single-panel editorial cartoons as well as comic strips and advertisements, boasting a high percentage of previously unseen material. ... The shock of witnessing characters like Batman and Donald Duck talking about the 20th century’s largest war is akin to discovering a photo of your grandmother in an embarrassing outfit, taken decades before you were born.”
- Abraham Riesman, Vulture

“This delicious retrospective of U.S. cartoonists’ response to WWII is agitprop at its best. The book goes well beyond reprinting the familiar editorial cartoons and looks instead at how some of the best magazine illustrators and comic strip artists of the day joined the cause in recruitment, war support, bond drives, etc.”
- Steve Smith, min

About the Author

Warren Bernard is Executive Director of the Small Press Expo (SPX) independent sequential art festival, and is a comics-focused writer and historian. He co-authored the Eisner Award-nominated book Drawing Power, and has extensively researched and written about the 1950s Juvenile Delinquency / Senate Comic Book Hearings. A contributor to more than a dozen books, he often provides rare materials from his own extensive collection. Both the Library of Congress and the Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) have hosted his lectures. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

Bob Dole (b. 1923) is a politician who served in World War II. He is the author of several books, and the recipient of the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official.