The Political Cartoons of Derso and Kelen

‘The book presents a richly illustrated and thoroughly commented appraisal of Derso and Kelen’s work; a visual history of international relations; and, through contextualization, an analysis of interwar politics – a highly compelling, fascinating and timely book.’ – Frank Möller, International Affairs 100: 2, 2024

‘Ouvrage à ne pas manquer!’ – Guillaume Doizy, Caricatures & Caricature

‘In resurrecting their story and their phenomenal contributions to the art of political cartoon and caricature – and to historiography itself – Slater and Macfadyen have done the world a great service.’ – Suzanne Cherney, AFSM Quarterly News, October 2023

‘Just when it looks like there is nothing left to be said about mid-twentieth century political cartooning, a new and innovative study appears to disabuse the notion. With The Political Cartoons of Derso and Kelen, Stefan Slater and David Macadyen have broken new ground, emphatically, exploring the life and work of little-known Aloïs Derso (1888-1964) and Emery Kelen (1896-1978), as they chronicled the life of the League of Nations and the emerging United Nations, c.1920-1946, caricatured the statesmen of inter-war Europe, and fostered a cartooning internationalism of remarkable creativity.’ […]

‘With The Political Cartoons of Derso and Kelen as a model and a guide (and the superb production values of Lund Humphries and the designers as a model), we can look forward with confidence to what is yet to come.’ – Richard Scully, The European Journal of Humour Research

‘Cartoonists can be extraordinarily perceptive observers of the world, as Slater and Macfadyen demonstrate in this excellent book.’ – Muhammad Asad Latif, Religious Studies Review

Following distinguished careers in medicine, Stefan Slater and David Macfadyen have pursued independent research around the inter-war period and the foundation of the League of Nations, which extended to the exploration of the careers of Alois Derso and Emery Kelen. Their research has been published in journals and presented at conferences.