The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (Cartoon History of the Modern World)
Written by: Larry Gonick
Editorial Reviews:
If you like "The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (Cartoon History of the Modern World), you might also like ...
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Too many details
Comment: I hate history. I bought this book for a friend and hope he has enough 'basic' information already to get through this. The cast of characters is unwieldy and how the people connect with others is confusing. Way more information than I wanted. I don't even understand the jokes - if there CAN be jokes about boring history. The only way I'd look into this book again, is if my giftee sits by my side and explains the details in this tome - but I'll only devote another 5 minutes to any such capsulization. This book just reinforces my resistance to history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I love this guy.
Comment: He always uses humor to bring low the ego of man and the pomposities of our forefathers, and hence ourselves. It's good we don't take ourselves too seriously. We will make better choices for our future that way.
For those who might criticize this book as glossing over certain episodes: Well, I hope this isn't someone's *only* history book. It should just be in everyone's collection along with other reputable history volumes. These books are good for pointing out the history hidden well between the lines in most history texts.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great, but ...
Comment: Of course all the Cartoon histories are really great, illuminating, and educational, but on this one, I kept being irritated by with it references to today's events - references that a in a few years will be incomprehensible. A historian should write for the ages.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution
Comment: Great for a student who just can't get into the dry text book in history class. Factual, funny and in a cartoon format. Student's who find that they have no interest in history, may decide differently when they read this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Shallow and snarky
Comment: First of all, I was a big fan of the first 3 books. But this one was no where near as good. Here are some of my complaints.
He comes off as more forgiving of the Aztec empire (human sacrifice, slavery and all) than the Spaniards (slavery, sans human sacrifice). A little more examination into the changes in the native populations day-to-day life would have been appreciated.
He seems to dismiss the theory that germs were the dominant factor in allowing Europeans to conquer the Americas. While he does touch on disease in a few instances, his only direct approach is to portray this notion as a way to assuage white guilt. But this was, almost certainly, the reason why Europeans were able to conquer the Americas and not Africa or Asia.
He perpetuates the myth that the croissant was invented to commemorate the victory of the Siege of Vienna. In fact, the myth originally claimed that it was invented for the siege of Budapest, and this was most likely invented as well. The first time that this story is told is in 1938, far too long after the fact to be accepted as fact.
The treatment of slavery and the U.S. constitution is shallow. There were real conflicts here that could have been given better treatment. I'd rather that he'd saved this for another volume than skim over it.
The religious conflicts in Europe were much more complex, and deserved more in-depth treatment. Too often, Gonick makes snarky comments about the participants, but there were real fears, real ambitions, etc. that motivated these conflicts.
In fact, too often, just like his comparison of Aztecs to Spaniards, he seems willing to accentuate European sins over non-European sins. One can't help wondering what types of biases he harbors when addressing these comparisons. Was life in Peru really better under the native lords than under the Spaniards? Under what measurements?
As well, the Ottomans are never addressed directly, even though they were an important world power. And did the Ottomans work in the African slave trade (why yes, they did)? How did this effect Africa, Turkey, etc.?
Some of this may be alleviated in future volumes, but this volume by itself is weaker than previous ones.
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.080207
EAN: 9780060760045
ISBN: 0060760044
Label: Collins
Manufacturer: Collins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Publisher: Collins
Release Date: 2006-12-26
Studio: Collins
 | Format: Paperback List Price: $17.95 Our Price: $12.21 Your Save: $ 5.74 ( 32% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Customer Rating:  |
Editorial Reviews:
The Cartoon History of the Modern World is a wickedly funny take on modern history. It is essentially a complete and up–to–date course in college level Modern World History, but presented as a graphic novel. In an engaging and humorous graphic style, Larry Gonick covers the history, personalities and big topics that have shaped our universe over the past five centuries, including the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the evolution of political, social, economic, and scientific thought, Communism, Fascism, Nazism, the Cold War, Globalization––and much more.
Volume I of the Cartoon History of the Modern World picks up from Gonick's award winning Cartoon History of the Universe Series. That series began with the Big Bang and ended with Christopher Columbus sailing for the New World. This book starts off with peoples that Columbus "discovered" and ends with the U.S. Revolution.
If you like "The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (Cartoon History of the Modern World), you might also like ...
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Too many details
Comment: I hate history. I bought this book for a friend and hope he has enough 'basic' information already to get through this. The cast of characters is unwieldy and how the people connect with others is confusing. Way more information than I wanted. I don't even understand the jokes - if there CAN be jokes about boring history. The only way I'd look into this book again, is if my giftee sits by my side and explains the details in this tome - but I'll only devote another 5 minutes to any such capsulization. This book just reinforces my resistance to history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I love this guy.
Comment: He always uses humor to bring low the ego of man and the pomposities of our forefathers, and hence ourselves. It's good we don't take ourselves too seriously. We will make better choices for our future that way.
For those who might criticize this book as glossing over certain episodes: Well, I hope this isn't someone's *only* history book. It should just be in everyone's collection along with other reputable history volumes. These books are good for pointing out the history hidden well between the lines in most history texts.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great, but ...
Comment: Of course all the Cartoon histories are really great, illuminating, and educational, but on this one, I kept being irritated by with it references to today's events - references that a in a few years will be incomprehensible. A historian should write for the ages.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution
Comment: Great for a student who just can't get into the dry text book in history class. Factual, funny and in a cartoon format. Student's who find that they have no interest in history, may decide differently when they read this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Shallow and snarky
Comment: First of all, I was a big fan of the first 3 books. But this one was no where near as good. Here are some of my complaints.
He comes off as more forgiving of the Aztec empire (human sacrifice, slavery and all) than the Spaniards (slavery, sans human sacrifice). A little more examination into the changes in the native populations day-to-day life would have been appreciated.
He seems to dismiss the theory that germs were the dominant factor in allowing Europeans to conquer the Americas. While he does touch on disease in a few instances, his only direct approach is to portray this notion as a way to assuage white guilt. But this was, almost certainly, the reason why Europeans were able to conquer the Americas and not Africa or Asia.
He perpetuates the myth that the croissant was invented to commemorate the victory of the Siege of Vienna. In fact, the myth originally claimed that it was invented for the siege of Budapest, and this was most likely invented as well. The first time that this story is told is in 1938, far too long after the fact to be accepted as fact.
The treatment of slavery and the U.S. constitution is shallow. There were real conflicts here that could have been given better treatment. I'd rather that he'd saved this for another volume than skim over it.
The religious conflicts in Europe were much more complex, and deserved more in-depth treatment. Too often, Gonick makes snarky comments about the participants, but there were real fears, real ambitions, etc. that motivated these conflicts.
In fact, too often, just like his comparison of Aztecs to Spaniards, he seems willing to accentuate European sins over non-European sins. One can't help wondering what types of biases he harbors when addressing these comparisons. Was life in Peru really better under the native lords than under the Spaniards? Under what measurements?
As well, the Ottomans are never addressed directly, even though they were an important world power. And did the Ottomans work in the African slave trade (why yes, they did)? How did this effect Africa, Turkey, etc.?
Some of this may be alleviated in future volumes, but this volume by itself is weaker than previous ones.
Technical Details
Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 909.080207
EAN: 9780060760045
ISBN: 0060760044
Label: Collins
Manufacturer: Collins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Publisher: Collins
Release Date: 2006-12-26
Studio: Collins
