This superb collection celebrates the life and work of arguably the most influential political cartoonist the United States has ever produced. I’m as proud of the British book industry as the next man, but I have to concede that this is the kind of thing that puts our guys to shame. In addition to the two hundred cartoons in the book itself, you get an extra 18,000 on the accompanying disc. With almost an apologetic cough, the publishers explain that these represent only his major work! Well, it’s more than enough to be getting on with. I can’t imagine anyone complaining they’ve been short-changed, put it that way. Herblock’s amazingly long career spanned 13 presidencies, from Herbert Hoover to George W Bush. In British terms, that would be as if David Low or Bernard Partridge had started their careers with Ramsay Macdonald, and were still going strong with Tony Blair. More than anyone, he shaped the public perception of Nixon in the 50s as shifty, scheming, and unsavoury. Typically, the then vice-president is seen rising from the sewer, covered in slime. Later, Herblock asked the American public “Would you buy a used car from this man”? They would, as it happened, but Nixon in the White House inspired – or provoked - Herblock to his most memorable series of images. At the height of the Watergate scandal, Nixon clings desperately to his desk as a tidal wave of filth surges through the Oval Office. Later, an enormous hand with ‘US’ on the cufflinks holds down the resignation statement for the tiny presidential pen to sign. Like all great cartoonists, Herblock was able to say with only a few strokes of his pen what it would take his colleagues on the editorial pages many hundreds of words to convey. There never was a more damningly accurate portrayal of Jimmy Carter than Herblock’s picture of him standing on the wrong side of the Oval office desk, banging his fist and shouting “Who’s in charge here?” His depiction of racist Southerners - “Nah, you ain’t got enough edjicashun to vote” - during the 50s and 60s were, perhaps, as important a contribution to the civil rights movement as any speech: they were immediate, comprehensible, and, above all, funny. Still drawing in his nineties, Herbert Block was a cartooning legend, and a true icon for American progressives. This fabulously generous collection of his work will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in politics or history. Speaking as just such a person, I know this is one I’ll be returning to for many years to come.