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Writer Joshua Kendall will provide an entertaining romp through the remarkable life of cartoonist Garry Trudeau and the past half century of American history during “Trudeau and Doonesbury: The Cartoonist Who Turned the News into Art,” at the New Haven Museum on Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 6 p.m. Reception at 5:30 p.m. Free with regular museum admission. Register here: simpletix.com/e/trudeau-and-doonesbury-the-cartoonist-who-tickets-262076
Kendall’s presentation will be based on his latest book of the same title, which will be published on May 26, 2026. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has called this definitive biography of Trudeau, which relies on nearly 100 interviews of prominent baby boomers, including the cartoonist himself, “outstanding,” adding that it “helps us understand how Trudeau became a spokesman for our generation, someone who spoke truth to power while compelling us to laugh along at life’s many absurdities.”
Kendall will talk about the legendary career of Trudeau, who began drawing his iconic strip “Doonesbury” while attending Yale University. At a time when college campus unrest reached a fever pitch across the nation, “Doonesbury” began appearing in papers nationwide in 1970. Events from Watergate to the war in Vietnam fueled the comic’s popularity—and its significance. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once put it, “The only thing worse than being in it would be not to be in it.”
Kendall will discuss Trudeau’s early life and what makes him tick and show how “Doonesbury” reflected America back to itself. Kendall will argue that just as Charles Dickens in his novels presented an indelible picture of Victorian England, Trudeau in his comic strips chronicled life in late 20th and early 21st-century America.
Kendall notes that he hopes attendees will gain both a deeper understanding of Trudeau as a person and an appreciation for the influence of his famous comic strip. “We live in an age where political satire itself is under attack, and Garry’s work highlights the value of humor in understanding the world around us,” Kendall says. “As a Yale grad—class of 1981—and like many Yalies of my generation, Garry helped me navigate through the ups and downs of adulthood.”
images courtesy of: Beinecke Library, Andrew McMeel Universal.
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Event Venue
114 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT, United States, Connecticut 06510
Tickets
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