From the publisher:

A mainstay of countless American childhoods, MAD magazine exploded onto the scene in the 1950s and gleefully thumbed its nose at all the postwar pieties. Unfazed by lawsuits, the ire of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, and the scorn of critics and scolds unwilling or unable to get the joke, MAD became the zaniest, most subversive satire magazine ever sold on America's newsstands.

The MAD Files celebrates the magazine and its creators, the self-styled Usual Gang of Idiots who transformed puerile punchlines and merciless mockery into an art form. Twenty-six essays and comics present a varied, perceptive, and often very funny assessment of MAD's significance. Art Spiegelman, Roz Chast, and Chris Ware recall what MAD meant to them as children; David Hajdu and Grady Hendrix zero in on MAD's hilarious spoofs; Liel Leibovitz delves into the Jewishness behind the magazine's humor; and Rachel Shteir amplifies the unsung genius of MAD's women artists. Several contributors offer admiring profiles of the individual creators who made MAD what it was: Mort Drucker, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Jaffee, Antonio Prohías, and Will Elder.

For die-hard fans and newcomers alike, The MAD Files is an irresistible, indispensable guide to America's greatest satire magazine.