To Laugh That We May Not Weep: The Life and Art of Art Young

Political cartoons usually have the shelf life of yogurt, yet many of Art Young’s drawings from the early twentieth century remain fresh and hilariously witty. A jovial man who even had empathy for his enemies, Young had a winning sense of humor as well as a strong sense of social justice.– “The New Yorker”
Published at a time when political rancor overwhelms nearly every other conversation, To Laugh That We May Not Weep is a welcome reminder of how poignant, elegant and, yes, funny a historic political cartoon can be.– “Chicago Tribune”
The brilliance and humane qualities of Art Young’s work are as real in these pages as they ever were. Reader, dig in.– “The Los Angeles Review of Books”
To Laugh That We May Not Weep enshrines, even as it comments on, the work of the preeminent American political cartoonist. Young’s beautifully drawn cartoons are still fresh and as powerful as any tabloid front page.– “Bookforum”

Art Young was an American political cartoonist and writer who was born in 1866 and died in 1943. He attended the Chicago Academy of Design, the Art Students League of New York, and the Academie Julian. Young is most known for his contributions to the radical socialist magazine The Masses.

Art Spiegelman is one of the world’s most admired and beloved comic artists, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust narrative, Maus. Born in Stockholm in 1948, Spiegelman studied art and philosophy at Harpur College before joining the underground comics movement in the 1960s. Spiegelman taught history and the aesthetics of comics at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1979 to 1986, and in 1980 he founded RAW, the acclaimed avant-garde comics magazine, with his wife, Françoise Mouly. Honors Spiegelman has received include induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame and the Art Director’s Club Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. He was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007, and in 2011 he was awarded the Grand Prix at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. In 2015, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2018 he became the first comic artist to receive the Edward MacDowell Medal.

Glenn Bray lives in California’s San Fernando Valley with his wife, the Dutch editor Lena Zwalve.

Frank Young is the author of the graphic novels Oregon Trail: The Road to Destiny, and The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song. The latter won an Eisner award in 2013. He was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and graduated from Florida State University in 1984. Young works as a writer, editor, cartoonist, and designer. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon.

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