Kartun Riwayat Peradaban Modern Jilid II: Dari Bastille hingga Baghdad

The Cartoon History of the Modern World #2

by Larry Gonick, Tyas Palar (Translator)

Inilah buku pamungkas dalam seri Kartun Riwayat Peradaban karya kartunis Larry Gonick. Kisah dunia modern, dari Revolusi Prancis sampai perang mewalan terorisme, disajikan dengan cerdas dan menghibur dalam Kartun Riwayat Peradaban Modern Jilid II. Gonick mengantar kita menyusuri zaman pencerahan, revolusi industri, modernisasi berbagai belahan dunia, berlanjut ke Perang Dunia I, Perang Dunia II, Perang Dingin, dan mengakhiri tuturan sejarah dalam kartun-nya pada zaman kita, awal abad ke-21. Juga tampil dalam buku ini tokoh-tokoh dunia modern, mulai dari Napoleon, Einstein, Marx, Hitler, Sukarno, sampai George W. Bush dan Usama bin Ladin.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Cartoon, World History

260 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2009

About the author

Larry Gonick (born 1946) is a cartoonist best known for The Cartoon History of the Universe, a history of the world in comic book form, which he has been publishing in installments since 1977. He has also written The Cartoon History of the United States, and he has adapted the format for a series of co-written guidebooks on other subjects, beginning with The Cartoon Guide to Genetics in 1983. The diversity of his interests, and the success with which his books have met, have together earned Gonick the distinction of being "the most well-known and respected of cartoonists who have applied their craft to unravelling the mysteries of science" (Drug Discovery Today, March 2005).

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful introduction to world history. People of all ages will enjoy this solid summary that briefly touches on many of the important events of the last few centuries. The author's humor, knowledge, and art make this a very accessible option for people looking for a general overview of the past.

[Dion Yulianto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walau penuh dengan fakta-fakta mengejutkan dan kadang tidak bisa dipercaya, sejarah nyatanya menjadi salah satu tema atau topik yang cenderung membosankan. Apalagi pengalaman belajar sejarah saya kebanyakan diwarnai dengan jejalan hafalan tanggal sekian dan peristiwa ini dan itu. Esensi dan nilai penting dari suatu peristiwa dan bagaimana peristiwa itu berdampak ke depannya sering sekali kurang atau bahkan tidak dijelaskan. Siswa pun cenderung gampang bosan dan ngantuk saat jam pelajaran sejarah. Padahal, nilai penting sebuah peristiwa atau seorang tokoh atau sebuah artefak bersejarah bisa menjadi topik yang seru untuk diperbincangkan. Bagaimana misalnya Marcus Aurelius yang seorang kaisar Romawi ternyata juga seorang filsuf yang menhasilkan karya tulis Meditation. Atau lainnya, bagaimana orang Mesir sudah berhasil membangun monumen-monumen besar ribuan tahun sebelum bangsa di benua lain masih berburu dan meramu. Bagaimana sebuah peristiwa bersejarah itu bisa terjadi, ini yang kurang mendapat porsi dalam pemgajaran materi sejarah. Ini kok malah berasa mau bikin makalah pembelajaran sejarah wkwk maaf.

Cara lain yang tak kalah asyik untuk menyampaikan materi sejarah adalah lewat media komik, apalagi komik yang lucu campur sinis. Saya senang pelajaran sejarah, dan semakin senang menemukan buku yang membahas sejarah dunia lewat komik. Gonick memang bisa dibilang agak 'vulgar' dalam menggambarkan sejumlah peristiwa bersejarah (saya sudah kaget waktu membawa Kartun Riwayat Peradaban jilid 1, jadi saya sudah ada persiapan saat baca buku ini). Nada berkisahnya juga sedikit, eh, banyak ding sinisnya. Tetapi bagusnya, dia bersikap egaliter. Semua tokoh dan peristiwa digambarkan setara (kebanyakan negatifnya sih wkwkwk) tanpa membedakan apakah dia bangsa Barat atau TImur, beragama apa atau dari ras apa. Gonick seolah berupaya menempatkan dirinya sebagai pihak pengamat yang menyaksikan umat manusia dalam upaya mereka memajukan (kadang menghancurkan) peradaban. Memang kok manusia itu suka gitu.

Dalam buku ini Gonick menguraikan beragam peristiwa bersejarah mulai dari Revolusi Prancis hingga serangan Amerika Serikat dan sekutunya ke Irak. Sekitar akhir abad ke-16 hingga mentok di tahun 2001. Indonesia dan Soekarno turut dibahas sedikit dalam beberapa panel, tetapi cukup membanggakan. Disebutkan kalau Hindia Timur menjadi koloni pertama yang mengilhami negara-negara lain untuk memerdekakan diri dari imperialisme Barat. Perang dunia 1 dan 2 agak kurang banyak porsinya, tetapi ya bisa dimaklumi karena berbagai peristiwa besar terjadi dalam waktu yang berdekatan sementara jumlah halaman (dan tenaga si komikus) terbatas. Namun secara singkat kita bisa sedikit memahami linimasa sejarah dan juga intisari dari peristiwa-peristiwa bersejarah seperti Runtuhnya Tembok Berlin, Tumbuh-Bangkit-dan Ambruknya komunisme, asal muasal pecahnya Revolusi Prancis dan juga Revolusi Industri, juga bagaimana berbagai wilayah di dunia mengalami pergolakan dahsyat dalam kurun waktu yang hampir bersamaan.

Ini buku yang unik sekaligus nggak bikin ngantuk buat belajar sejarah. Sejarah bukan hanya milik mereka yang menang, tetapi juga milik mereka yang mencatat dan medokumentasikan. Melalui sejarah, kita belajar dari masa lalu untuk tidak mengulangi (tetapi, anehnya, malah sering mengulangi) kesalahan yang sama. Suka pusing deh kalau mikirin kelakuan umat manusia itu wkwkwk.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously 250 pages , especially in comic format, is not enough to effectively cover the last 200 years of world history, but the narrative and humor entertain. And, like the volumes before it, the bibliography opens a door to years upon years of books to read to expand upon that brief history.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been waiting for this book since I was twelve. When I was in seventh grade I spent an entire "sick" day reading volume one of this series. I was entranced by the snappy wit and insight, as well as the accessibility of the history it contained. Each succeeding volume was equally savored, the only problem being how slowly they were churned out. I really enjoy how, through comics, history becomes more than facts and dates. People have faces, words, and a sense of humor. So now that we have come to the end I am sad. I used these books for so much in my life: turning large incomprehensible ideas into digestible ones, preparing for tests, teaching social studies in my classroom. I am so glad the set is complete, but now what will I look forward to?

[Shana Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out really strong, but in the last couple of chapters it focused too much on America, which might be because the USA has had such an influence on the world in the last century. Africa, on the flip side, didn't get nearly enough attention in the latter half of the book.

[dollgowns · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Cartoon History of the Modern World is similar to its predecessor in the sense that both are different from the usual textbook styles of history books. The cartoon style makes it easier to read the book but also quite strange since the artist and author both have an interesting sense of humor.
The book makes it easier to read about the history of the world and easier to remember but also makes a lot of jokes. In the end the jokes are what readers remember, not the history.
I personally think that the history of the world can be taught in interesting ways to make people enjoy leaning it but this comic book didn’t do the greatest job in the world.
The graphic novel was literally a textbook with a lot of illustrations. A lot of the text was relevant to the panels but mostly it was just text carrying on and on with pictures to make the readers actually read the long rants of speech.
The Cartoon History of the Modern World, being a comic book, was probably meant to keep the reader’s interest and attention because of it’s different writing style but it wasn’t much better than the average textbook.
I really think that reading a normal textbook would give you the same outcome as reading The Cartoon History of the Modern World (Part II).

[Cosmos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book better than the first one. This book has a lot more fighting and wars in this book.
This book left of a little bit after where the first book stopped. This book had a lot to do with
the Asian countries. The book started with China. Then quickly after that it changed to slaves.
For a while the book talked about slaves and the European countries thoughts on it. Then France and Britain came out and fought for a few long pages. Then it showed China buying opium and how lots o the Chinese fought about the opium problem. Then it showed the Chinese changing there ways.
Then for a long period of the book there was the European countries fought and fought for a long time. Then it switched to the world wars. America bombed Japan(Hiroshima)
There isn't really much to say on this book. It was entertaining but slightly boring at some points.
This was a good read though. I didn't like the book on math. That in my opinion wasn't the best.
This book was literally mainly about slavery, European wars, and the Chinese converting to Europea ways.

[Jc · Rating 5 out of 5]

After recently reading Gonick’s 3-part Cartoon History of the Universe series, I am now visiting his follow up two-part series – The Cartoon History of the Modern World. The first volume of I read when it first came out, but this was my first visit to volume 2. Volume 1 was certainly of equal quality and interest to the earlier series. As with all Gonick books, his detail and range of source material, make these a great way to review or be introduced to the wonder (and often horror) that is human history. I still highly recommend reading all 5 books, but number 5 is possibly the weakest of them – especially when he gets into the 20th century. This is not really Gonick’s fault – he is no longer dealing with established history, but with details of modern times where many of the details and implications are only now starting to become clear. With this limitation in mind, Cartoon History continues to be a must read series. Later this year, or perhaps next, I will visit his one volume, Cartoon History of the United States, thus completing his Cartoon History works.

[Aitor García Rey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only problem with this book: it's too short and the last 100 years are briefly condensed in a hundred pages. Love the way Gonick treats History thoughtfully but without renouncing to insert humor in every page. I'm already looking to read the whole series again.

[Anthony Faber · Rating 3 out of 5]

More asterisks with no foot or end notes. I can't for the life of me figure out why he did that, and it made the book hard to read, because I wasted a whole lot of time wondering what the asterisks were for. I guess I'm just too stupid to read his stuff.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gonick continues his irreverent and highly readable traipse through history.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong finish to the series.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gonick combines solid history with humor, making a very readable combination.

[Rais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Senang dengan sejarah dalam bentuk komik

[Andika Lesmana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last book of Gonick's History Series. Masterpice!

[Muhammad Arief Akbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sangat simpel dalam membahas perang dunia 1 dan 2, tapi perang tersebut jadi kurang detail. Bumi belahan amerika selatan, australia, dan asia tenggara sangat sedikit sekali di bahas.

[Bon Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis book was educational. I learned from after the revolutionary war till now.

[Patrick Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upset that I finished!

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always loved this series since my dad would read it to me as a kid. I definitely never got to this last volume though so it's nice to finally finish it.

[Book Calendar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 2 From The Bastille to Baghdad by Larry Gonick




This book is the final book in a long running series of cartoon histories by Larry Gonick. I remember reading the first one when I was in high school. They made history very entertaining. The cartoons drawn by Larry Gonick did not leave out the juicy parts of history; intrigue, thievery, murder, affairs, and human foibles that were not often in the high school textbooks. The way he describes history leaves no group spared. He is out to expose humanity in all its glory from every corner of the globe.




I found the first half of the History of the Modern World to be better than the latter half of the book. Larry Gonick seems to do a better job with the older history. I think this is because he uses a lot of primary source material. History before World War I is less open to interpretation, partially because most of the people from that time period are dead. The second half of the book includes many people who are still alive.




There is a definite slant to the left in this book, especially in his coverage of the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. However, he does not spare any group when he writes about them. He writes about China, Indonesia, France, Austria, the United States, Nigeria, the Congo, Colombia, and places all over teh globe. He attempts to skewer all sides when he does his cartoons.




His description of the cold war is different than most. He describes it in a much larger historical perspective which springs from colonialism and earlier history. His take on Russia, China, and the United States is quite interesting. There is quite a bit on the rivalry between Mao and Stalin. Neither communism nor capitalism are spared for their philosophical background.






The subjects in this book are quite diverse, they cover the globe, the Ottoman Empire, Imperial Japan, the end of the slave trade, Napoleon Bonaparte, Stalin, Nixon, World War II, the war in Afghanistan, and many other subjects are covered. He tends to focus on specific incidents where great personages are involved in conflict. This makes the story interesting. The book is meant to be an overview not in depth coverage.




The drawings are in black and white with a traditional panel layout. Many of the panels are annotated and there is a lot of dialogue between historical figures. This often includes historical quotes portrayed in a humorous manner. In addition to larger page layouts, he sometimes include smaller stretches of the panels covering a short incident during a historical time period at the bottom of the pages. Absolutely everything is backed up with an extensive bibliography which includes primary source material and classic historical texts.




There is also an extensive index. The cartooning is excellent. Between chapters he uses the device of a time machine and a professor to explain some of his decisions in cartooning each chapter. The Cartoon History of the Universe Part III won the Harvey Award for comics which is very prestigious in the comics industry. Larry Gonick has also written a wide variety of nonfiction cartoon books, The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, The Cartoon Guide to Sex, The Cartoon History of the United States, and many others. His website is at http://www.larrygonick.com/

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Gonick's "Cartoon History" series, and with this latest one, I have sadly completed the cycle... well, not really, since now I am enjoying starting over again reading them with my children. The art and humor make this compressed history more approachable, but don't be misled into thinking that these are juvenile works. They are exhaustively-researched scholarly offerings, complete with annotated bibliographies, footnotes, and sidebars. Just not dry.

Though the art in Modern World, Part 2 is among Gonick's best, it seemed to me that this one rushed its subject matter slightly more than the previous versions (although, perhaps that's because more recent material is more familiar). I enjoyed reading this simultaneously with Gonick's earlier Cartoon History of the United States, since the subject dates more or less overlap one another, and the latter work fills in the gaps that Modern World would otherwise leave on topics of principally American interest (like the Civil War, which gets barely a mention).

There are passages that could use a bit more depth, chiefly the discussion of both World Wars. Gonick's WWI makes only visual reference to the hell of trench fighting in a book which otherwise seamlessly combines text and imagery, thereby ignoring the clash of obsolete military strategy vs. contemporary technology from which it arose (though his earlier Cartoon History of the United States presciently picked up on Ulysses' Grant's slaughter of troops in the Civil War as a precursor to it). Likewise, the tide change of WWII is given as the strategic "blunders" of Hitler's betrayal of his original pact with Stalin and Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor, where Gonick's earlier History of the US at least had the sophistication to point out that these decisions were the outcome of the German-Japanese military alliance upon Japan's entry into the war, made necessary by implacable U.S. opposition to both.

However, Modern World is best when it treats subject matter thematically, such as the late-19th century Japanese push to be "modern" (and how various world cultures defined this concept) and the impact of science on the development of the military-industrial complex, the rise of pseudoscience and the consequences of each (see "Spy vs. Spy" on pp. 224-225). The series as a whole is a must read, and again, this book is delightful when taken in conjunction with United States and otherwise a fitting end to the set. I almost can't wait to catch up with it again, (my kids have only yet gotten past Athens as of this review).

[Gphatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rather sad the series is ending already. In fact, my only real complaint about this book is that "the ending" -- getting up to modern day -- feels a bit rushed, and more U.S.-centric than I would have liked.
Still, the first half does a fine job of meshing historical perspectives from around the world, and putting them in context of one another -- something I appreciated. I didn't anticipate yet another take on what happens during the Age of Revolution and the Industrial Era, but Gonick synthesizes them very well, and makes good connections that I had not yet noticed or thought of. His sense of verbal and visual humor is in high form for this book, too.
Sadly, the series is done, and one of the observations I have taken from it -- highlighted in this volume -- is that mankind seems to make the same mistakes over and over and over again. Or maybe that's Gonick's modern day perspective. But it certainly isn't hope-inspiring.
Highly recommended.

[Paul Schulzetenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gonick wraps up his History of the World series in this volume, and a worthy wrapup it is. Gonick continues to use the flair and accessibility to keep history from becoming dull and dry. The art pops and the voice of the author is present without being overwhelming.

I do have one minor quibble with the book, and that is that Gonick occasionally is a bit too close to some of the last history. As we get closer to the end of the book, we start seeing more of the events of history through the lens of the 2000s, when the book was written. This is unavoidable to a certain degree, but it is a bit jarring, even read now, a mere four years after publication.

This really is a fantastic series. This probably isn't the book you should start with, but it will do an excellent job if you're looking for a very high-level understanding of the last 225 years of history.

[Andrush · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about teaching facts about the history of the modern world.There are a loud of different settings and there is a lot of good writing that is making me learn and want to read.The characters are funny interpretations of real life people like Napoleon.There are 4 main thongs that this talks about the slavery of blacks the French british and American history from 1800 to 1950.

There are faults to this book like there are some moments where the dialogue is just screaming out random facts and useless things and the art style dose not look like a thing that should be a thing because it looks so terrible.This book is very meh it's great but it can make a lot of mistakes it is a 3 out of 5 and it's not the greatest.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gonick's cartoon histories have been a welcome diversion for years now, and I feel a little sad to have finished them off. These are solid, compact world histories. I always learn things reading them, but with a dash of Gonick's cheeky humor thrown in to keep things entertaining. I haven't enjoyed his treatment of other subjects quite as well as his histories, but maybe he'll take on some more specific historical subjects. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking to fill in their gaps in historical knowledge in an entertaining way.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part II: From the Bastille to Baghdad by Larry Gonick looks at the lighter side of imperialism, highlighting the “opening” of China and Japan, and the “liberation” of South America, as well as the African slave trade. Napolean meets his Waterloo, all the “isms” get their due, and the Cold War has its hot spots, too. Even after the Cold War, Americans continue to arrive here and there, saying, “Hi! We’re here to help as long as we need you!” ending with the invasion of Iraq. Another brilliant book by Larry Gonick.

[Seth D Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

the conclusion to one of my favorite cultural artifacts ever, Larry Gonick's 5-volume cartoon history of the world, volume 1 of which I read way back in middle school. The later editions, post-Bush and Gulf war, are a little angrier and preachier, but the whole thing is still terrific, hilarious and informative, putting familiar historical events in new contexts and new perspectives - the emergence of Europe's nation states and the U.S. in the 19th century is shown via Japanese officials' world travel in the 1860s. highly recommend the whole series!

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of Gonick's books are fine reads. He just breaks down history or any other subject. He must have a dozen in print right now. I flew through this one faster than any of the other history ones, maybe it was thinner, I'll have to see. I believe that unless he lives another 100 years we'll never see any more historical ones from him, but this one was overall satisfying. The first one in this series was better.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this series. I admit, it felt like baby history. But it was fun. And it was the most condensed history of the world that I've read, which helped me to appreciate the major trends and movements and how they interacted. Gonick definitely has a point-of-view and enjoys portraying the darker side of governments and religion. And what he chooses to include is colored by his politics and principles. Still, a delightful and enjoyable read.

[Lionel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice wrap up to a long running series. Gonick is great at synthesizing a large amount of source material, making connections that gave me different points of views on bits of history I thought I knew and introducing me to lots of bits I didn't know. This volume takes us from the late 1700s up through the Iraq War.