Commenting on my own review

Given the attention that my review of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography is now getting and the degree of Schulz expertise people ascribe to me at times, I thought I should clarify that.

The book does add a richness of fact, but don’t take my review to attest to the accuracy of every fact presented. I am far more knowledgeable about Schulz’s work than I am about the history of the man himself; most of what I know of the man comes simply from reading earlier biographies. While I know enough to catch errors in other biographies like apparently melding Schulz’s two wives (sequential!) into one, far more subtle details would easily elude me. However, the book did well in the category of facts with which I’m familiar.
Perhaps more significantly, I cannot attest to the accuracy of the emotional portrait of Schulz the book paints. I never met the man, only saw him in the flesh once. And I suspect that with any human being, there are many different perspectives through which one can view the person inside.

I just don’t want people using my supposed expertise to validate this single portrait. Thanks!

Share the news!
New releases
RECOMMENDED: Goodness and Good Grief!

I somewhat slough off a lot of Peanuts books aimed at children. I can appreciate that the people making them are doing good work, but at the same time feel that a properly formatted book of the actual comic strips would actually serve the kid better. But then, I’m a …

Upcoming releases
The Essential Peanuts preview

The magazine People ran a preview of The Essential Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz, the upcoming Peanuts retrospective written by my bud Mark Evanier. I’ll let you head there for the content, but I am going to talk on one part of the preview pointed to me by AAUGH Blog …

Upcoming releases
Charlie Brown’s America goes soft

Coming in December is a paperback edition of Blake Scott Bell’sĀ Charlie Brown’s America: The Popular Politics of Peanuts. I reviewed the hardcover when it came out in 2021, and that positive recommendation still stands. Share the news!