“Generalissimo El Busho” is my chronicle, in essays and cartoons of the most polarizing presidency in modern American history, a  tragicomic week-by-week dissection of the Bush Administration’s follies and crimes. I’ve traveled to Third World trouble spots,so I recognize a dictator when he see one. Having seized power extraconstitutionally, Bush and his cabal of corrupt businessmen made it obvious from the outset that they intended to rule with ruthless zeal. Unlike many of my fellow journalists, however, I refused to be cowed or water down my rhetoric–even in the wake of 9/11. It’s easy to forget just how radical the Bush Administration was — and how the changes he made continue to have repercussions today. Ted Rall, a cartoonist and columnist for Universal Press Syndicate, is more hostile to President Bush than most members of Saddam’s inner circle, as this collection of his work from recent years makes scaldingly clear. There’s nothing really humorous here; the satire mixed into Rall’s…

My first all-prose book marks the beginning of the end of my belief that the Democratic Party was redeemable. Although I have come to believe that moving beyond the duopoly is necessary, liberals and progressives who have not followed me down the radical path will find much to like here. Declaring that there hasn’t been a “real” Democrat in the White House since Lyndon Johnson, I decried the hijacking of the government by right-wingers and the seeming powerlessness of the left to stop them. Seeing the left in disarray, I told liberald how to organize a vibrant, relevant alternative to rightist rule and make life better for vast numbers of people in the process. In order to enjoy  mainstream majority status, I argued, liberals should strive to create a viable American left centered around an effective Democratic party. Why is the American Left in disarray and can anything be done about it? That question has haunted progressives and others who…

The second installment in the “Attitude” trilogy of interviews, cartoons and photos of America’s top alternative cartoonists emphasizes cartoonists who deploy novel approaches to humor and the comics medium. Politics are still important, but take a back seat to social commentary in this collection. Includes the work of well-known artists like Aaron McGruder, who draws the daily comic strip “Boondocks,” Max Cannon (“Red Meat,” which you’ll find in The Onion), Shannon Wheeler (“Too Much Coffee Man”), Marian Henley (“Maxine!”), David Rees (“Get Your War On,” which appeared in Rolling Stone) and Alison Bechdel (“Dykes to Watch Out For”, the graphic novel “Fun Home”). Also features Jennifer Berman (“Berman”), Barry Deutsch (“Ampersand”), Emily S. Flake (“Lulu Eightball”), Justin Jones (Soda-Pong”), Keith Knight (“The K Chronicles), Tim Kreider (“The Pain — When Will It End?”), Kevin Moore (“In Contempt Comics”), Stephen Notley (“Bob the Angry Flower”), Eric Orner (“The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green”), Greg Peters (“Suspect Device”), Mikhaela B.…

The result of painstaking research and analysis, “Gas War” is the definitive behind-the scenes story of the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAP) project. Conceived during the 1990s under Bill Clinton, the idea was for the United States to control the vast, newly-tapped Caspian Sea oil and gas reserves — which by some measures exceed those of Saudi Arabia — by building an oil and gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan. Upon taking office in 2001 George W. Bush revived the then-stalled project. When negotiations with the Taliban faltered, the U.S. threatened to bomb Afghanistan into compliance. After 9/11, of course, they did did just that. Now Afghan puppet president Hamid Karzai is America’s point man on a benighted scheme that refuses to die: the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline. An insightful revelation for anyone who thinks the U.S. government is run by brilliant Machiavellians, “Gas War” is a must for anyone who cares about the effects of American foreign policy and one of…

“The New Subversive Political Cartoonists” is the first volume in my ‘”Attitude” trilogy: the definitive record of the political cartooning scene that exploded in alternative weekly newspapers during the 1980s and 1990s. It features interviews of, cartoons by and photos and ephemera about 21 ground-breaking alternative political cartoonists who revolutionized the form. The Iowa City Gazette called “Attitude” “a fascinating look at the minds behind some of the most caustic commentary of modern society and politics.” Alternative political cartoonists work in the netherworld between facile categorizations. Because they’re passionate and strident, they’re considered too alternative for mainstream daily papers. But, because they’re articulate and focus on ordinary people’s concerns, they’re not always considered alternative by the artsy crowd. Here’s a look at this fascinating world. Includes cartoons by: Tom Tomorrow (“This Modern World”), Peter Kuper (“Eye of the Beholder”), Ruben Bolling (“Tom the Dancing Bug”), Lloyd Dangle (“Troubletown”), Andy Singer (“No Exit”), Don Asmussen (“San Francisco Comic Strip”), Clay Butler (“Sidewalk…