40: A Doonesbury Retrospective 1970 to 1979

by G.B. Trudeau

Readers and critics have been wowed by G. B. Trudeau's epic masterpiece 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective, which follows Trudeau's ever-expanding cast through four decades of cultural turbulence and change. This seminal work is now available digitally in a four-volume e-book set for the first time. This first volume of 40 covers the years 1970 to 1979 for the celebrated cartoon strip.

"[Trudeau is] Dickensian in his range of characters," writes Garry Wills in The New York Review of Books. "Trudeau has just kept improving, year after year, in part because he stays so close to changing events. . . .."

Genres: Fiction, Comics, Humor, Politics

696 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 2012

About the author

Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip. In 1970, Trudeau's creation of Doonesbury was syndicated by the newly formed Universal Press Syndicate. Today Doonesbury is syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide and is accessible online in association with Slate Magazine at doonesbury.com. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer, traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film, for A Doonesbury Special, in collaboration with John Hubley and Faith Hubley. A Doonesbury Special eventually won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Special Prize in 1978. Other awards include the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1994, and the Reuben Award in 1995. He was made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. Wiley Miller, fellow comic-strip artist responsible for Non Sequitur, called Trudeau "far and away the most influential editorial cartoonist in the last 25 years." In addition to his work on Doonesbury, Trudeau has teamed with Elizabeth Swados and written plays, such as Rap Master Ronnie and Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy. In 1988, Trudeau joined forces with director Robert Altman for the HBO miniseries Tanner '88 and the Sundance Channel miniseries sequel Tanner on Tanner in 2004. In 1996, Newsweek and The Washington Post speculated that Trudeau wrote the novel Primary Colors, which was later revealed to have been written by Joe Klein. Trudeau wrote the political sitcom Alpha House, starring John Goodman and Bill Murray. The pilot was produced by Amazon Studios and aired in early 2013. Due to positive response Amazon has picked up Alpha House to develop into a full series.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A trip into the past, the country's and my own. I remember the very first Doonesbury cartoon I ever read. It's in this book. It was featured in "Seventeen Magazine."

Our local paper didn't carry it for several years, and even then, often didn't print it if the subject was considered to be controversial.

Along with many other conservative daily papers, they would not print the strip on the funny page, preferring to run it on the editorial page.

Silly them. In my case, it got me noticing the editorials, which I began reading, and started forming my own opinions on.

Get teenagers thinking and you get thinking teenagers.

Add Doonesbury, and you get thinking teenagers with a wicked political sense of humor.

[Dannan Tavona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Politics, archetypes, and trends of the 70s

Comics, commentary

As the author points out, this collection represents only about ten percent of the actual output over the decade. Still, the collection is coherent and poignant about a bygone era.

Doonesbury was there throughout the 70s, poking fun, challenging and sometimes warning us about what was coming. Some of the names fly over those are too young to remember, and some where decried about and yet didn't bring the end of civilization. Trudeau helped capture the past in his line drawings and sometimes witty, sometimes cutting observations about living in middle class America. It also points that we've always been fractured, but we were often a lot more polite about it fifty years ago. A retrospective worth a look. Enjoyed.

[Kimber Buelow- 561 Bookgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

40 years and I remember this like it was yesterday. I know the characters, I know the situations. in many cases I know the worss and frames by heart. Doonesbury is a finger on the pulse of the times, and is an old friend that I am always happy to visit with.

[Scotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Amazing how completely relevant, and nearly timeless all these strips are. Found myself laughing out loud frequently. Love the character and their storylines.

I've been wanting to read this book since it first came out. Waited for the digital version. Have you seen how big the hardcover is? Have asked for this for several years and my wife finally got this for me this past Christmas. Was worth the wait. Enjoyable book.

It's also amazing that even though I was but a kid all through the 70s I remember the political and cultural references like they were yesterday.

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024 bk 115. I had not realized until I read this retrospective of how much Doonesbury had impacted my teen and YA years - and my expectations of what college life would be. I was a high school student in the first part of the book and college student in the second part - my 1970's were years of education, learning to live in my own skin, and becoming aware of the many possibilities out there - all of this was helped by Doonesbury and the 'stereotypical' styles that I learned to look for in people at the time. Well put together Retrospective!~

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Not) Sucking in the Seventies

Not at the time, but a few years later, the perusal of Doonesbury was a rite of passage for us college bound.
Especially the end of this collection was a blast to re-read. Trudeau (no relation?) was clearly in his prime. If memory serves, it's all downhill from here.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the memories

I can't say that I was a fan of Doonesbury from the start, but I can say when introduced to this quirky group I became one. reading this retrospective have me laughing my bottom off. Some of the panels I have read before,some I missed along the way. All I can say is Doonesbury rules.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but I did not laugh once...

[Stephen Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memory lane

Or lake.....

I was amazed at how many of these I retained from 40 years ago. At least 95 percent

[Sandy Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A trip down memory lane.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised how many themes from the 70s are resurgent in the 2020s: conservatives, gun rights, global warming/ecology, corrupt government...

[Jonathan D McMillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection

As a kid I never got Doonesbury, but now having more life experience it was fun to see these strips and to get the references, it's a great snapshot of the times!

[Janejellyroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

You probably already know if you enjoy Doonesbury, so I'm just going to focus on the overall content of this specific book. The name might give the impression that this is the total output of 1970 to 1979. It is not, it's only a small portion. That said, Trudeau (and editors) did a great job of making it FEEL like a continuous story. It's not at all hard to follow the narrative and there was no sensation of gaps in the story (which is a challenge when you realize how dense and sequential the story is here). I loved seeing these characters emerge, but I'll admit that I do prefer the 80s/90s versions (more fully realized).