Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression

Operating under the premise that it's fun to get a glimpse of something verboten, Wallis (Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print) presents dozens of political cartoons yanked prior to publication. Functioning as both a compendium and history of political cartooning, the book is full of cartoons, each accompanied by a brief narrative describing why it was killed, and though some cartoons seem fairly innocuous, the background provides intriguing context. Perennially controversial cartoonist Ted Rall has several entries, including one from 1991 captioned ""How Gulf War Veterans Like To Spend Their Summers,"" which features a kooky-looking guy burying beachgoers. It was inspired, Wallis writes, ""by a report in Newsday that U.S. Gulf War veterans might be having some remorse about using tanks outfitted with earthmoving plows to bury Iraqi troops alive."" Older cartoons are included, as well, like a David Low cartoon killed in 1937 that ""skewered the imperialist ambitions of Fascist leaders in Spain, Japan, Germany and Italy."" Catholicism gets spanked, too, as do a host of presidents, notably Clinton, Bush I and II and Reagan. With 100 illustrations, this is a commendable collection.