06/03/2022
I'll have several copies available for sale at tonight's "First Friday" extravaganza. Gilded Age political cartoons from the turn of the last century...
Liberal University Press is pleased to announce the re-publication of cartoonist Homer Davenport’s rare second book of political cartoons, The Dollar or the Man? the Issue of Today, featuring cartoons which originally appeared in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. Comprising 54 images, this work was a collaboration with Horace L. Traubel, who curated the selection of images used, as well as provided a 3000 word introduction. Traubel’s extensive literary legacy includes being the biographer of American poet Walt Whitman.
Like our first release, this edition is annotated with relevant background material and period publications. The curated cartoons Traubel chose were focused on the monopolistic corporate trusts, and the increasing disparity between the few rich and the multitudes of the poor. They all date from 1898 through 1900, ending after the Presidential election in November.
Owing to the fact that this book was released several months before the assassination of President McKinley by an anarchist, physical copies are extremely rare. Since McKinley and his administration were the main targets of the work, his death and public sentiment no doubt cut into book sales. Nevertheless, McKinley’s death, and the rise of President Theodore Roosevelt signaled a shift from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, where many of the issues presented in this publication were somewhat addressed. It is available at the Silverton Country History Museum, or online.
