I also watched just about all of the Charlie Brown TV specials as a kid. I must confess that before starting this book I knew very little about the 'Peanuts' comic strip, less about its creator Charles Schulz and, though I had read the comic sporadically while growing up, I could not (and still cannot) name all the characters of the strip and the nuances of their relationships. But the strip was anchored in the collective experience and hardships of Schulz′s generation-the generation that survived the Great Depression and liberated Europe and the Pacific and came home to build the post-war world. Schulz′s Peanuts profoundly influenced the country in the second half of the 20th century. It was the central truth of his own life, that as the adults we′ve become and as the children we always will be, we can free ourselves, if only we can see the humour in the predicaments of funny-looking kids. With Peanuts, Schulz embedded adult ideas in a world of small children to remind the reader that character flaws and childhood wounds are with us always. And these early experiences would shape his entire life. The sense of shock and separation never left him.

In 1943, just three days after his mother′s tragic death from cancer, Schulz, a private in the army, shipped out for boot camp and the war in Europe. The son of a barber, Schulz was born in Minnesota to modest, working class roots. Now, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us the first full-length biography of Schulz: at once a creation story, a portrait of a hidden American genius, and a chronicle contrasting the private man with the central role he played in shaping the national imagination. Charles Schulz, the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the most misunderstood figures in American culture.

David michaelis