I, Con: The Autobiography of Paul Conrad, Editorial Cartoonist

Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.: Angel City PrESS, 2007. First Ediiton . Trade Paperback. Fine. 9" X 9. 191 Pages. Remainder mark on bottom page edges and a little cover edge wear are the only defects noted. Front dust jacket like flaps has an unclipped price of 25.00. Interior text drawings and cartoons are flawless. Each of the more than 200 cartoon inclujdes the date of publication and many if not most have some textual commentary by the artist. Paul Conrad is the editorial cartoonist's cartoonist-the god of the drawn word, ready to skewer whomever missteps against humanity; the master of felt-tipped philosophy; a man of few words, but mighty pictures. This is his autobiography, the story that only he and his cartoons can tell. Conrad drew his messages for thirty years at the Los Angeles Times and California provided him an abundance of material such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. His cartoons tortured Nixon through the Watergate era-so much so that he was the only cartoonist to make the fames President's Enemies List. And Governor and later President Ronald Reagan would make early morning phone calls to Times Publisher Otis Chandler to complain that Conrad's cartoons were not only distasteful but disgusting. Nancy Reagan would follow up to say that Conrad had ruined Ronnie's breakfast, again. Such is the power of the pen in Conrad's able hand. With more than two hundred drawings and a few well-chosen words, Conrad tells the story of a nation, of a culture, and of a singular cartoonist's ability to merge compassion, integrity, anger, outrage and angst in a world riddled with the constant slings and arrows of remarkably outrageous fortune. And, yet, he remains, as he tells us, an optimist. And an icon. I, CON is a treasure for anyone who enjoys observing the world of politics and political satire.