Charlie Brown's America The popular politics of Peanuts

Charlie Brown's America is not just another Peanuts book; it is what the author intended it to be--"a biography of Peanuts' cultural life." Ball makes a strong case that the world's foremost comic strip was very political, despite common belief to the contrary, its messages deftly shrouded in allegory, ambiguousness, and intentional vagueness by Charles Schulz. The book comprises an introduction to Schulz's life and career, and six chronological chapters dissect social and political matters through the adventures and words of the strip's characters--the Cold War and Linus's security blanket; Charlie Brown's "outsider" status; Lucy's psychiatry booth; race with the 1968 integration of African American Franklin; the Vietnam War through pilot Snoopy's daring, never-ending search for the Red Baron; environmental degradation, overpopulation, and capitalist materialism played out by Sally's conversion of Charlie's baseball field into a victory garden and lush orchard; and feminist/sex/gender identity and abortion rights as exemplified by the Peanuts girls: Peppermint Patty, Lucy, Sally, and Marcie. Ball's coverage is wide reaching, extending to television specials, licensing, and merchandising; the exhaustive research includes interviews, speeches, fan correspondence, and secondary sources; and the writing flows freely. Though Oxford University Press's editing leaves much to be desired, this excellent book provides abundant new material and many fascinating insights. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty, researchers, and professionals. --John A. Lent, independent scholar