Product Description

Witty, acerbic, razor sharp: Ted Rall has been called a spokesperson for his generation. But the political cartoonist doesn't leave anyone untouched - even his own Generation X - as he focuses his caustic imagination on everything from pop culture to the environment, from underemployment to political trends. Search and Destroy is Rall's first cartoon collection in five years. His previous books, Waking Up In America and All The Rules Have Changed were best-sellers, especially among young people looking for someone to voice their frustrations, their hopes, their angst. Likewise, his groundbreaking book of essays and cartoons, Revenge Of The Latchkey Kids, spoke loudly across generations. Ted Rall brings an insightful understanding into the forces that are shaping our society today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1206237 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

Hits out at "the system" with a smile on its face...
Probably the best collection of Rall's work available in print. This is a christmas cracker for anyone even half switched-on. Ted never gets boring and his subject material is extremely wide. Pick a political bad apple, and he pulls it all apart with gleeful abandon. By the last panel, you'll be wondering whether to laugh or join the local anarchists' group. This is my kind of life-blood.

humorous
This is great book to acquainted with the humor of Ted Rall. It consists of a collection of comic strips that Ted Rall picked as his favorite from the last five years. The book includes ones that were and weren't published. Most of the strips have an explanation of why Ted thinks it is worth being included in this collection, or the what point the strip was trying to convey. I don't know what else to write about without giving anything away, so I will just say that this is worth every penny that Amazon[.com] is asking for and you must buy this.

Bitter, Yet Funny
The work of Ted Rall has a polarizing effect, I think. Either you laugh uproariously yet ruefully and say, "Rock on, my man! Power to the people!" or you clench your teeth in rage and growl out, "America--love it or leave it, you pinko punk!" Pretty much, if you voted for Reagan or either Bush, then you'll tend to the latter reaction.

Mr. Rall evidently stews in perpetual bitterness over the myriad injustices of contemporary American society. In no particular order, he appears to loathe and despise his father, bosses, lawyers, corporations, Republicans, fellow cartoonists, his father, Hollywood, the school system, and also his father--pretty much all of the accepted and customary targets of the left. He has virtually no trust in any major institution and gleefully skewers them without mercy. Of course, given the domestic track records of recent Republican administrations and the squalid, greed-infested, and sorry state of corporate governance these days, he's perfectly justified in his hatred.

Despite the overtones of rage, most of the collected strips are extremely funny, and his style is distinct and unique. Some of the strips have appeared previously in alternative weeklies, but others are drawn from his work for other publications.

Avoid this is you're an overly sensitive and humorless adherent of the right wing; otherwise, pick it up for both the laughs and the provocative challenge to your world view.