Mixing long essays and cartoons from the mid-1990s, Revenge is my Generation X manifesto. As Xers entered marriage, parenthood and, God forbid, responsibility, the book made a splash with its anti-Boomer argument that neglect and abuse of Gen X in its youth would create an unusually self-sufficient generational cohort in adulthood. This prediction proved accurate.
Previously titled “Kill Your Parents Before They Kill You” (before buyers for major bookstore chains threatened not to carry it), contains 24 chapters of edgy insight, personal histories, advice and cartoons. It is, in the words of cartoonist Jules Feiffer (who wrote the introduction), “a spicy stew of high-handed judgments, part drawing, part essay, part memoir-confession, part tantrum. The text is the thing. Funny, fractious here and there, nasty now and then, brilliant.” Among the chapters are “College is for Suckers,” “Gen Xploitation,” “Making the Most of Your Parents’ Divorce,” “Relationship Tips for the Sexless,” and in a rallying cry against capitalism during the 1990s boom, “Bring On The Stock Market Crash.” Salon.com reviewed this book and called Ted “one of the best political cartoonists in America.” Also includes Ted’s seminal essays “Work is a Sham” and “College is for Suckers” for Might magazine.
Rall’s work is a wacky Rorschach blot of the American character – or lack of it. —Publishers Weekly
Generation X Manifesto in Essays and Cartoons, 1998
Workman Hardback, 7″x10″, 224 pp., $18.95
Workman Paperback, 7″x10″, 224 pp., $10.95
To order the hardback: Amazon
To order the paperback: Amazon
