{"product_id":"9781608197859","title":"Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary","description":"More than thirty years have passed since Al Capp's death, and he may no longer be a household name. But at the height of his career, his groundbreaking comic strip, \u003ci\u003eLi'l Abner\u003c\/i\u003e, reached ninety million readers. The strip ran for forty-three years, spawned two movies and a Broadway musical, and originated such expressions as \"hogwash\" and \"double-whammy.\" Capp himself was a familiar personality on TV and radio; as a satirist, he was frequently compared to Mark Twain.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThough \u003ci\u003eLi'l Abner\u003c\/i\u003e brought millions joy, the man behind the strip was a complicated and often unpleasant person. A childhood accident cost him a leg-leading him to art as a means of distinguishing himself. His apprenticeship with Ham Fisher, creator of \u003ci\u003eJoe Palooka\u003c\/i\u003e, started a twenty-year feud that ended in Fisher's suicide. Capp enjoyed outsized publicity for a cartoonist, but his status abetted sexual misconduct and protected him from the severest repercussions. Late in life, his politics became extremely conservative; he counted Richard Nixon as a friend,\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eand his gift for satire was redirected at targets like John Lennon, Joan Baez, and anti-war protesters on campuses across the country.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWith unprecedented access to Capp's archives and a wealth of new material, Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen have written a probing biography. Capp's story is one of incredible highs and lows, of popularity and villainy, of success and failure-told here with authority and heart.","brand":"Bloomsbury USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47134930239728,"sku":"9781608197859","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781608197859_p0.jpg?v=1763831777","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781608197859","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}