"The Cartoon History of the United States"

-by larry gonick
1990
Brilliant. I was going to rattle off a long list of adjectives, but really, "brilliant" in every sense of the word pretty much covers it. It's the first history book you'll ever read that is both page-turner and giggler. Everything that was wrong with your high school history book (the avoidance of anything controversial or resembling a viewpoint other than "Yay, eurocentric America!") is set aright. I first learned of gonick through "The Cartoon History of the Universe", which only impressed me enough to make it the first book that every thinking human should read. It was successful enough to spawn over ten sequels...i myself can't wait to read the one on genetics, and (whee!) the one on sex. His website: http://www.larrygonick.com/. Gonick doesn't disappoint in this one. There's an initial letdown that his drawings are less fleshed out, as though he'd been facing a publication deadline. But you get used to that quickly enough, for the content is lovingly fleshed. Gonick is beautiful at making the big picture accessible. The big picture often escapes even the most intelligent among us, but i here offer twenty words from this book that will give any seventh grader a better understanding of the world than the four stupifying (or stupidifying?) years of history courses to come: "And technology begat industry...and industry begat capitalism...and capitalism begat communism...and communism begat anti-communism...and anti-communism begat fascism...". If you're looking for the perfect gift for a young mind, or a youthful mind, or a mind that you'd given up on, look no further.