Politics Now: The Best of David Rowe

This first and long-awaited collection throws us into the grotesque, malformed, and subterranean world that is Rowe’s vision of politics now. Enter at your own risk.

Featuring all the madness and downright stupidity of the past five years, Rowe’s freakish burlesque includes the usual suspects: Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, and Bill Shorten, as well as a host of minor monstrosities who you would rather forget lest they haunt your dreams.

Rowe is one of the few Australian cartoonists who pay close attention to international affairs. There are cartoons on China, Europe, the UK, and the slow-motion train wreck of Brexit, wars in the Middle East, terror, and the rise of authoritarians.

And, of course, Donald Trump. No cartoonist in the world, and that includes those from the US, has laid bare the Donald and his debauched administration with such devastating insight and wit.

If the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, then David Rowe is indeed a wise man, for beneath the outrageous gothic menagerie of Rowe’s imagination is a fierce intelligence and ethical sense combined with superb artistry.

This essential collection - edited by Russ Radcliffe, compiler of the bestselling Best Australian Political Cartoons, and introduced by Laura Tingle, one of Australia’s most respected journalists - features David Rowe’s finest political cartoons, caricatures, and sketches from the past five years.