40: A Doonesbury Retrospective 1980 to 1989

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 second volume of 40 covers the years 1980 to 1989 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: Comics, Fiction, 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

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024 bk 116 Ah - the 1980's. These were the years of excessive spending at the top with little trickle down effect. The years of teaching in which I was seeing a world that wasn't the world of the well to do - when I had students and their families living in cars and sneaking into schools to take a shower because there were few fall-back programs and learning that trickle down economics isn't economics for those in the lower middle class down. It was a time of me-ism and this retrospective shows us a taste of what it was like.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just Doonesbury

This is a great collection of the Doonesbury comic strips from the1980's. As a long time can of this strip it was great going back and reading the antics of the characters. One thing for me is that even if I had read these strips before they still bring a smile to my face and a hope for more strips to come. However I have one dislike and that is there weren't enough strips to read. So I guess I will just have to get more to read.

[Cookie M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old home week around here. I read some of these in The Kalamazoo Gazette, the rest in The Milwaukee Journal, which became The Journal Sentinel. I reached adulthood, and so did the gang. It all seemed pretty amusing, even the world politics stuff, because, how bad could it get? Even with this annoying rich guy running around putting the name Trump on everything he could get his hands on. It was only stuff.

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 3 out of 5]

So good in the seventies, so bad in the eighties.

I saw mostly fan boi reviews, so I feel duty bound to post a slightly negative review.

This collection records the decline and fall of Doonesbury.

We used to joke that Jane Pauley took over the writing, but the art got "worse" too, in the sense that Trudeau took to heart the criticism that his strips were often four panels exactly the same, with all the wit in the dialogue. Hello? That was what was great about the strip.

So, half a decade of cringe, and nothing could persuade me to read two more collections. Godspeed.

[Scotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Doonesbury for so many years. Excellent book covering the 80s. Crazy that he wrote about Trump back then too, just like Berkley Breathed. It is amazing how the same political issues are still happening today. Funny book. Good stuff.

[Michael Linton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been a Doonesbury fanboy since the 70s brings back lots of memories.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was surprised Trump was a thing in the 80s -- the same thing as the 10s alas.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retro

Black and white strips with color splashes on sunday. First appearence of hunkra the barbarian. First appearence of Mr butts. An appearence by A non orange Donald Trump.

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

I love Doonesbury and the entire mob of chatacters who help put the last 40 years into perspective.