Warmly inscribed by Conrad to former reporter and author Nick Beck: "For Nick-- I used to be in the newspaper business myself.... Best Paul Conrad 12/'79"

From the dustjacket:

Paul Conrad's words express his own personal philosophy-- and his work exemplifies it. His cartoons proceed unwaveringly from a definite range of strongly held opinions. He deflates the pompous and shines the spotlight of his insight on hypocrisy, greed, and insensitivity.

This collection of Conrad's work spans a decade of political change, the scene of the seventies. His theme is the loss of leadership over those years. Where have all the leaders gone? The seventies saw the debacle of Vietnam, the embarrassment of Watergate, the indecisiveness of Ford, the vacillations of Carter. Conrad casts a critical eye on big oil and bureaucratic government, on the controversial issues of busing, the arms race, nuclear power, abortion, and California's Proposition 13. His pen becomes a scalpel that excises short-signedness and ignorance and produces an unmistakable message in support of common sense, integrity, and life itself.

As if at some point the two dimensions of ink and paper proved not broad enough to contain the breadth of Conrad's genius, the artist has turned to the three-dimensional world of sculpture. His work in bronze captures the essence of many of the political figures of the seventies - Nixon, Ford, Kissinger, Jerry Brown, Golda Meir.

The wit and wisdom of Paul Conrad has delighted readers for over a decade. Pro and Conrad presents the overview of that decade, a tears-in-the-eyes, chuckle in the throat look at ourselves.