Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit

　　The first illustrated biography of the cultural life of an enduring global icon, Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit is the compelling story of how the singular artistic vision of a unique individual took on a life of its own and became an instantly recognizable character known the world over. Spectacularly illustrated with rarely seen archive images, art historian Garry Apgar, weaves a fascinating narrative about the nature of creation, changing generations, and how a fictional character came to embody the personality of a nation.

　　Since his modest debut in 1928, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse has evolved into arguably the world's most recognized — and beloved — fictional figure. Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit is the illustrated biography of a unique cartoon character, his life and times, and his impact and influence around the world in art and literature. Part art history and part cultural study, Apgar's Mickey Mouse narrates how the character was initially developed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, how his irrepressible spirit grew to huge popularity during the Depression, and how he became a politically charged cultural icon of international reach. Spectacularly illustrated with more than 400 images, Mickey Mouse is a worthy successor to Abrams' The Art of Walt Disney, "one of the most successful and influential illustrated art books on American popular culture ever published."

作者簡介

　　Art historian, cartoonist, and journalist Garry Apgar (PhD, Yale), has taught art history, French literature, and cross-disciplinary topics at Brown University, Princeton University, the University of Delaware and Southern Connecticut State University. Apgar is a co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of The Voltaire Society of America, and the author of A Mickey Mouse Reader (University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming September 2014), an anthology of articles and essays by, among others, Diego Rivera, E. M. Forster, Maurice Sendak, Stephen Jay Gould, John Updike, and Walt Disney himself.