Review of "Midwest Farming as Portrayed by a Selection From Ding’s Cartoons," by Jay N. Darling

 Review of

Midwest Farming as Portrayed by a Selection From Ding’s Cartoons, by Jay N. Darling

Five out of five stars

Farming as only Ding can express it

 As a lifelong Iowan and sometimes farmer, I am familiar with the ups and downs of farming. Crop and livestock prices rise and fall, sometimes with justification and other times seemingly without reason. Even more fickle is the weather, where one farmer can get an inch of badly needed rain while one a few miles away will get almost nothing. Government assistance is often just as unpredictable, price supports and acreage set asides come and go, creating additional uncertainty in the markets.

 Jay N. Darling, signing his name as Ding, was an exceptional cartoonist at capturing the wild and unpredictable life of a person trying to make a living from the soil. There are years of incredible bounty in harvests and revenue, especially during the two world wars. This was followed by collapsing farm prices due to overproduction where the costs of production either stay the same or do not fall at the rate of prices.

 Each of the cartoons has a caption on the top that appeared with the cartoon when it was published and a short segment of explanatory text at the bottom. These short segments of text provide a great deal of contextual explanation. The date of first appearance of each cartoon is also given, which further expands the context.

 One of the best editorial cartoonists of all time, Ding captures the roller coaster business that was farming in the first half of the twentieth century.

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