New York

A great book, though I must admit that I did not "get" about 10% of the cartoons. The carttons are representative of the era. One cartoon, the one about lynching, comes from the 1920s and can be excused in that it portrays a society that does not exist today.
I do not believe that the other cartoons are as offensive as the review below seemed to indicate. They are mostly more innocent than today's cartoons and definitively "high-brow" enough to elicit a chuckle.
I would say that at least 25% of the cartoons are great, The entire book revolves, obviously, about New York City and all its foibles.

Found this in a Thrift Store for $10 and had to have it. ( )

I can't recommend this book to anyone who is easily offended. In fact, I can't in good conscience recommend this book to anyone, period.

It's important to note the historical period in which these pieces were printed. That is, when racism was not only acceptable, but pretty damn funny (apparently). I had to stop flipping through the book when I came to a cartoon that made a joke of a lynching, the picture showing the man still hanging from a tree.

Much of the work is that patently offensive. I was almost relieved to come across the "light-hearted" sexism .

I can't believe this is filed under the 'American Wit and Humor' subject. ( )

The work which appears here is five star quality, but the selections are few and vacuous. In short, I did not "get" about 25 percent of the work in this volume. To be sure, it deals from the period of 1925 throiugh 1950, and I was only politically and socially conscious for a couple of those years (if any), but my studying of those times should have made me more aware than the average person. No, what happensed is this is a book of New York City, about subject matter pertinent to New York City, and composed and published by elements of New York City. The consistant theme of the born-and-bred New Yorker that theirs is the only geographic spot of civilization on Earth shows here. It shows greatly. ( )

A collection of cartoons from "The New Yorker", from 1925 to 1950, and providing a microcosm of society from that time. There are a few clunkers here, but "The New Yorker" published the wittiest and most intelligent cartoons around. ( )