Anvils, Mallets & Dynomite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes by Jaime Weinman is an informative and entertaining read that is part tribute to the cartoons while also analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.

What made this book fun to read, in addition to it being about cartoons I loved, was Weinman's writing style. He could be analytic while also having fun with the material. He covered the creators themselves as well as doing some close readings of specific cartoons to highlight what worked as well as some of the more problematic aspects, particularly to our contemporary ears and sensibilities (well, except for cartoonists who worked with Glenn Beck who sees political correctness whenever anyone's feelings are considered other than their own, but more on that later).

A lot of emphasis is given to the earlier cartoons for both artistic consideration and because of the marked difference between them. That said, the entire history is indeed covered. While this is a history it is less of simply a chronological history that gives equal weight to every period. This is a critical history that argues for why these cartoons are, in the writer's opinion, the apex of cartoons. So if you want just a chronological regurgitation of who came first, then who, and so on, this will just barely meet your needs. But if you want to understand the differences between Disney and WB, or between early and later Looney Tunes, this is the book for you.

In looking at any art of the past we have to walk a tightrope of looking at the art as art as well as what it says about that time. When addressing, for example, racism in the cartoons Weinman avoids dumping out the baby with the bath water. He does put everything in historical context but doesn't absolve anyone of using what even then were acknowledged as racist portrayals. They were just more widely accepted so they were used.

Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Looney Tunes as entertainment as well as those interested in them as part of mid-twentieth century popular culture.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )