The Doonesbury Chronicles

by G.B. Trudeau

In 1975, for the first time in the history of journalism awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning went to a comic strip: Garry Trudeau's nationally syndicated Doonesbury.

"It is not only the best comic strip, but the best satire that's come along in a long time."
—Art Buchwald

Carried today by over 350 North American newspapers, Doonesbury's unique blend of social-political satire, cartoon humor, and comic-strip continuity has won a following both improbably diverse and fanatically devoted. In Washington, where Doonesbury is required reading, requests for original strips have come from White House aides, senators, congressmen, and—remarkably—most of the major Watergate conspirators whose maladventures gave the strip grist for some of its most celebrated moments.

"There are only three major vehicles to keep us informed as to what is going on in Washington: the electronic media, the print media, and Doonesbury, not necessarily in that order."
—President Gerald Ford

So loyal has been this following that on occasions when Doonesbury was suddenly notable for its absence from a paper following a satirical thrust that had somehow offended editors' notions of comic-strip propriety, readers have always managed to protest it back onto the page.
The Doonesbury Chronicles marks the first hardcover appearance of Michael J. Doonesbury and cohorts, and is their first collection to include Sunday color pages. In all, 572 strips are presented, as selected by Garry Trudeau and encompassing the full Doonesbury canon, from its cozy campus origins at the frazzled end of the sixties through the stumbling first half of the seventies. Conducting us along the way is a motley though always redeemable cast that includes a student radical turned disc jockey, an immaculately dense but nonetheless charismatic quarterback, a nature freak who has nightmares about Mark Spitz, and a runaway housewife who ends up as a Berkeley law student by way of the Walden Commune Day-Care Center. For those hooked on Trudeau, as well as those still somehow deprived, for giving or hoarding, The Doonesbury Chronicles is a rich and Recession-proof treasure of a book.

Genres: Humor, Comics, Cartoon, Fiction, Comic Strips, Politics, Graphic Novels

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

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

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been going through all the books in house on many bookshelves. Forgot all about this one. Viet Nam, impeach Nixon, women’s lib. All my formative high school years. Opened it and also full of clippings and articles. Forgot he quit writing for awhile. Still read every Sunday in the comics.

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was probably about 10 when i first read him, 11 when i bought this book, a fan ever since. many jokes of course were beyond me, but the fictional family of walden puddle commune is a place i like to revisit every few years when one of these larger format collections is published.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the one that started it all. I can remember reading my first Doonesbury strip and it was fun to relive that time. This volume captures the early magic, initial art style, and biting humor that put G.B. Trudeau on the map. And, best of all, it put an issue that had taunted me for 50 years to rest: What does B.D. stand for? I know! And yes, I am tempted to share it here, but what fun would that be?

This book contains a collection of daily strips from the early years along with a bunch of the color Sunday ones. The latter was a real treat for me as growing up our local paper did not have a weekend comics section. These were a new look into the past and made me laugh! We also get to see how the strip gradually evolves into the political satire we know today while at the same time watching the characters become more distinct as their personalities are fleshed out. While not containing every strip from that time (I miss the one where they talk B.D. into joining Walden, but I have it elsewhere) the selection makes sense and captures most of the early themes that were explored during the first half of the 70s.

Doonesbury fans already get it, but if you have not experienced this series before, I cannot think of a better place to start, at the beginning, where a huge volume of insight and glee await you!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A supposedly complete collection of the first five years of Doonesbury, so it gives a bit of context for non-fans to understand the comic strip. Alas, it doesn't bother giving some context for the story archs, which are often very political or social and contemporary - which means they made more sense in the 1970s than now. I also found the chapter essays to be annoying and self-indulgent, as if they were trying to copy Hunter S Thompson and failing miserably.

Overall, a fun read, but I can't say I'm a Doonesbury fan. It's a bit smug and preachy for my taste. The lower score, though, is only a reflection on the lack of context which would have made this a more-useful historical document.

[Pascal Lapointe]

Les débuts de cette B.D. américaine qui, depuis 1970, colle à l'actualité d'une façon étonnante. Parfois cynique, parfois burlesque, l'auteur parvient toujours à se renouveler, de Nixon à Bush, de la Chine de Mao jusqu'aux cavernes de l'Afghanistan, entre le féminisme des années 1970 et les écologistes des années 2000... Si vous lisez les plus anciens livres, comme celui-ci, c'est une leçon d'histoire. Si vous lisez les plus récents, c'est une leçon de science politique.

[f · Rating 2 out of 5]

Years ago, after getting my daily fix of 'calvin & hobbes', and needing to avoid doing my job for a few more minutes, i'd usually read doonesbury, be bored with it, and wonder why, as a progressive, i felt somehow obligated to appreciate it. then i'd usually move on to wonder who the fuck was left on earth who finds 'family circus' or 'little orphan annie' entertaining, how much power they must have, and a chill would penetrate my very bones.

was i not giving doonesbury a chance?

so, to correct my obvious deficiency, a comrade convinced me to check out Trudeau's first collection of strips from the late 60's and early 70's, and now i see why so many lefties got used to checking doonesbury out every day. overall, it stands up very well, and i imagine was more groundbreaking at the time.

My favorite arc is about the Vietnamese NLF fighter Phred befriending the reactionary U.S. jock-soldier B.D. and the gambit bringing mass numbers of Cambodian bombing victims to testify against the U.S. attacks before Congress. Joanie Caucus' revolt against her unhappy marriage and teaching feminist principles to her daycare class and her pursuit of law degree all expose the contradictions of being oppressed and the ironies are handled in a genuinely funny way. There's also the relentless mocking of the powerful's limitless capacity for hypocrisy exposed through government officials own testimony.

It was a nice world to hang out in for awhile.

Yet, living today through a time when it's grown obvious yet again to mass numbers of U.S. residents that our ruling class' prime industry is producing irony and horror, i'm disappointed to find the current strip boring.

oh well, it seems like it paved the way for commercial acceptance of gems like 'tom tomorrow' and 'the boondocks'.

now, how do we get rid of 'little orphan annie'?

[Valerie]

This is a plain hardcover with no dust jacket. There's an introduction by George Wills, and a preface by the author.

This collection starts with what must have been the very first of the cartoons published in the Yale college newspaper. The end is a group of color cartoons, probably Sunday strips from different times.

The small collections this book anthologizes were of a size that they often went astray. Collecting them into a larger book makes them more easily curatable.

I've tried to read Doonesbury a time or two in late years. Maybe it's just that I haven't been following the strip, but I couldn't figure out what was going on, and didn't really care to. In the early days, even the most grotesque characters were human and approachable--and if they weren't attractive, they were at least sympathetically portrayed, mostly. Lately it seems that all the characters are mean and spiteful.

I may be remembering it with advantages, though. I'll reread this and see what I find. More later.

Several of the classic strips are included, others are not present. Probably there were other collections. Indeed, there almost certainly were, since the strip has lasted so long. But I don't have any other collection. As for collecting the smaller books this one anthologizes...even if they were about in bookstores, they wouldn't be easy to curate, being small and prone to fall behind bookshelves.

I'll keep a lookout for comprehensive collections like this, but I don't expect to find any. Used bookstores don't tend to have much of a humor section.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

The early days of Doonsbury when they lived in a commune!

[Brian Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recent events compelled me to pull my family's classic Doonsbury collections off the shelf (my dad purchased this edition back in '75) for a reread. It's heartening to see what has changed in the intervening 45 years, and disappointing as hell to see what hasn't. From the lefty radical Mark Slackmeyer being certain that the worker-student alliance was right around the corner if he just explained to the workers what Marxism could do for them to the constant insular denial of reality by the White House during the Watergate years, the painful constantcy of human nature was on full display. On the other hand, watching Joanie Caucus fight her way through separation, employment, divorce and law school lets us know that no matter hw far we still have to go (narrator: a LONG way), we have made progress in some spaces.

[The other John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this one on the shelf for a long, long time, but I haven't read it in a while. It's a collection of some of the strips from the first six years of the comic strip Doonesbury--1970 to 1975. It's been so long, it's kind of like I'm reading it for the first time. The first thing that struck me was echoes of Charles Schulz in the strips. If the early For Better or For Worse was Charlie Brown as an adult, these early Doonesbury strips could be Charlie Brown goes to college. But as I read further, my attention focused less on the art & the gags and more on the historical context. My knowledge of America in the 1960s and 70s has increased and I'm better equipped to appreciate the satire on changing mores, the Vietnam War, and the Nixon era than I was in my younger days. I came for the jokes but I think I'll keep it for the history.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This covers about the first five years of the strip, from 1970 through 74. The same period is covered by the first eight of the “annual” collections, and naturally there’s a fair amount of repetition. The annuals have a higher percentage of the daily strips for the period covered than this collection does, but I was surprised to find a fair number of strips here that weren’t included in the annuals. But the main draw for me was that a fair number of Sunday strips, in full color, were included here. (The annuals for the same period don’t include any Sundays.)

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this book is nearing 50 years old, and hence it is satirizing news event of 50 years ago, it is a bit hard to follow at times. Even though I lived through these times, and read most of these strips when they came out fresh, they meant more to me then as I didn't have to try to remember some of the people and events that are being satirized. Still a good read and helps jog the old memory cells. It might have been helpful to include a 'cast-of-characters' reference.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have read this from time to time since I was a kid. Used to belong to my Dad. Still worth reading, although not as easy to identify with now. Walden Puddle used to be my favorites strips, now I'd have to say it's the early college days. Would be better if Trudeau had added more commentary on the development of the story and characters.

[Raymond Naval · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting window into what was topical in the early 70s. I wasn't alive then so much of the political humor went over my ahead. But it's interesting seeing parallels with what was part of the national conversation then and what's being talked about today.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a walk down memory lane. I remember when these strips appeared in actual newspapers for the first time. GB Trudeau has always had an ability poignantly tap into the moment and show us what is happening in both the large and small issues of life.

[Michael Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this many, many times. Once upon a time, Trudeau was funny and true all at the same time.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book from my childhood. I had no idea who Charlie was but some of my first introductions to world events was through the lens of Doonesbury.

[Tavia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also first read this during Dead Week, just before graduation.

[Fred Daly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nostalgic experience. Remember when we thought there could never be a worse president than Richard Nixon?

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trip down memory lane. Amazing how much today's Republican party reflects the one from the 1970's.

[David]

I've lost track of how many times I've read the Doonesbury saga. Every few years I start again from the beginning.

[Michael Golightly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still a great and relevant read.

[Frances Littell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big Doonesbury fan in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Loved re-reading this collection.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is amazing (and a bit sad) how political comics from the 70s still resonate today. Trudeau is funny and insightful.

[Mza · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 1975 Doonesbury compilation -- selected from the strip's first years (1970-75) -- took me 16 months to read because I couldn't get excited about it as entertainment or as anthropological time travel. Trudeau's jokes and voice haven't aged well in the same way that I imagine the voices and jokes of the friends on Friends won't age well -- something too cute and self-ritualizing about the way they talk and formulate sarcasm, something monolithic about their back-and-forths that disrupts the illusion that all of these people aren't one person talking to himself. Trudeau's drawings here are less slick than they would later become, as you'd expect, but they suffer from the same timidity and lack of variation that make his current work fit in so well on the modern newspaper comix page. Every now and then in this book, usually in an outdoors scene in a Sunday color strip, he draws something that catches my eye -- a car or a tree -- but for the most part he gives us page after page of people from the waist up, talking, standing still.

That's not necessarily a bad thing in a strip whose conversations are the main event, and Doonesbury's rapid response to current events provides a steady stream of dialogues that are interesting even when they aren't funny. Tom Spurgeon has rightly pointed out that Trudeau's big advantage over more traditional one-panel editorial cartoonists is how he can call upon any one of a large cast of fully-developed characters to react to the news in ways that reveal truths about both the character and the news. In this book, we see Trudeau developing that strategy with Joanie Caucus and the rise of feminism; Mark Slackmeyer and Watergate; B.D. and the Vietnam War; and Mike Doonesbury/Zonker Harris/Joanie/Mark and communal living. It's a good demonstration of the virtues of fictional treatment of non-fictional phenomena: when political narratives are poured into human shapes, we are encouraged to suspend judgment and perceive complexity.

There are a few "We've come a long way, baby" moments: Joanie worries that law school will reject her because she's a woman. A Black Panther appears as a guest speaker in a college class where the professor presents him as an exotic show'n'tell. Mike's decision to live on an experimental commune is treated casually, as if it is something normal college graduates do. None of these signs of the times deliver the gleeful shock of Mad Men 's best WTF moments because Doonesbury's gentle, liberal attitudes are now the air that American popular entertainment breathes, and its sarcasm is the language we all speak. For me, the familiarity of Trudeau's approach invites disengagement. I want to know what it's like to live on a commune. I want to know how hard it is. I want to know how hard it was for Joanie to leave her daughters behind, too, when she left her husband. Trudeau goes only halfway in describing his world, relying on context to take care of the rest. He has an opinion, but he smooths it over with jokes that say, in a nutshell, "These people are good, even if they act silly most of the time." The nonchalance of his humour may or may not have been fresh at the time, but it's certainly stale now. If we're lucky, the fact that the past 40 years have not given us another Doonesbury-style strip, one that tackles the political world as it happens but still stays true to its own peculiar narrative, will make a lightbulb turn on for an ambitious young cartoonist who can do it, but do it better.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of all the books from day one and includes a lot of books I don't have like: I Have No Son; Call Me When You Find America; Guilty Guilty Guilty; What Do We Have For The Witnesses;
Dare To Be Great Ms Caucus; Wouldn't A Gremlin Have Been More Sensible etc. Seen in chronological order starting with the Nixon administration and the Vietnam war and what becomes very apparent is....history repeats itself. How very depressing. Also, portents of things to come...players and repercussions and signs of things to come in the future are all here.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sister gave me this anthology and the other Doonesbury book I have. This would have been circa 1981. I loved these books at the time. I thought this strip was the most innovative thing ever. Of course, Trudeau changed after a while and his liberal stuff really turned me off.

This is his classic work, however, and well worth the time to explore Walden Puddle.

[Rick Segers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to own dozens of the small format collections but over the years I actually donated them to a rummage sale and bought the larger collections. I loaned my copy of this to a friend and it was never returned. I have replaced it a few years ago and enjoyed the reading all the early days of Doonesbury.

[Jonathanrb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently re-read when I was feeling nostalgic. Most everyone I've cared for in this world lived through the events in this collection as adults, and read this strip daily. First one read on the comics page, in fact. Certainly the one most talked-about.
Many of those kind souls are gone, now.
I was truly born a decade too late.

[Mti Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of the first couple years of Doonesbury comic strips. This collection is not inclusive and skips over some comics and story archs. It does include lots of the Nixon strips and also a cameo by current VP Joe Biden.