How to Succeed at Globalization: A Primer for Roadside Vendors (American Empire Project)

A biting comic-book history of capitalism and globalization from the dean of Mexico's vigorous corps of political cartoonists (The New York Times)

In hopes of curing his business woes, Charro Machorro--windshield washer, roadside vendor, and free-market enthusiast--pays a visit to a faith healer in the Arizona desert and learns more than he bargained for about how the free market really works. To increase his profits, the healer suggests, he should establish his company during the Middle Ages, gain a monopoly, exploit natural resources, break up unions (though currently he's the only employee), and, of course, become a multinational corporation. The healer's $20,000 fee shows that she, at least, knows how to manage her own little business.

In a single, hilarious rush, cartoonist Rafael Barajas, aka El Fisgon (the peeper), takes us from the dawn of capitalism to the age of global conglomerates, showing how the world economy developed and how it functions today. Amid the laughs, he offers a critique of a planet in which the few globalize to their endless benefit, while everyone else suffers poverty, famine, migration, and war.

El Fisgon's graphically stunning, visually sophisticated book, filled with allusions to the history of art and cartooning, cleverly reverses every self-help manual for playing the market, teaching us not how to become rich but rather why so many remain poor.

El Fisgon is Mexico's leading political cartoonist, the author of seven cartoon books, the cofounder of two satirical magazines, and an illustrator of children's books. A winner of Mexico's National Journalism Prize, he lives in Mexico City.

In hopes of curing his business woes, Charro Machorro--windshield washer, roadside vendor, and free-market enthusiast--pays a visit to a consultant in the Arizona desert and learns more than he bargained for about how the free market really works. To maximize his profits, the consultant suggests, he should establish his company during the Middle Ages, gain a monopoly, exploit natural resources, break unions (though he's the only employee), and, of course, globalize.

In a single, hilarious rush, cartoonist Rafael Barajas Duran, a.k.a. El Fisgon (the busybody), takes us from the dawn of capitalism to the age of global conglomerates, showing how the world economy developed and how it functions today. But the laughter is barbed in this stinging critique of a planet where the few reap endless benefits, while everyone else suffers poverty, famine, migration, and war.

El Fisgon's graphically stunning, visually sophisticated book, filled with allusions to the history of art and cartooning, cleverly reverses every self-help manual for playing the market, teaching us not how to become rich but rather why so many remain poor.

Mexico's leading political cartoonist has created a clever, biting primer on the way globalization affects poor countries and how Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq look to the rest of the world. Goya would be proud of him.--Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire

El Fisgon uses laughter as a political tool with mastery.--David Moisl, San Francisco Chronicle

Mexico's leading political cartoonist has created a clever, biting primer on the way globalization affects poor countries and how Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq look to the rest of the world. Goya would be proud of him.--Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire

For decades, people have been telling us capitalism is a joke, but in this splendid pictorial tour El Fisgon leads us all the way to the punchline so that we know why it's funny. And scary. And weird. And very destructive.--Rebecca Solnit, author of River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West

El Fisgon's trenchant, powerful cartoons are some of the strongest weapons there are against American arrogance in the era of George W. Bush, and no border fence or missile shield can keep them out. His work is in the tradition of the great political caricaturists, and it is a joy and pleasure to have it available in English at last.--Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

Fisgon tells his story in a lively, accessible blend of text and pictures that prevents the work from coming across as a mere screed. Showing his versatility as an artist, El Fisgon mixes a variety of styles from elegantly realistic to broadly cartoony, along with images taken from Dorer and Dor to illustrate his wide-ranging thesis . . . The book's] position on recent history--the belief, for instance, that the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were equally unwarranted--may come as a surprise to readers who think America is beloved in the rest of the Western Hemisphere.--Publishers Weekly

"Mexican political cartoonist El Fisgn ('The Peeper') views history via economics in this sometimes amusing didactic work. For him, the villain is the free market economy model, and he blames globalization, Third World debt and the neoliberal economics of the IMF and WTO for every ill in society since the feudal age. While it's hard to argue that the neoliberal agenda has had generally disastrous consequences in South America and Africa since the 1980s, El Fisgn downplays the role that simple human greed plays in subverting every form of government, as the downfall of communism (which he acknowledges) shows. El Fisgn tells his story in a lively, accessible blend of text and pictures that prevents the work from coming across as a mere screed. Showing his versatility as an artist, El Fisgn mixes a variety of styles from elegantly realistic to broadly cartoony, along with images taken from Drer and Dor to illustrate his wide-ranging thesis. As a broad economic history, the book often misses the mark with its simplistic finger-pointing. Its position on recent history — the belief, for instance, that the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were equally unwarranted — may come as a surprise to readers who think America is beloved in the rest of the Western Hemisphere. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

A biting comic-book history of capitalism and globalization from the "dean of Mexico's vigorous corps of political cartoonists" ("The New York Times.") Fisgon's graphically stunning, visually sophisticated book, filled with allusions to the history of art and cartooning, cleverly reverses every self-help manual for playing the market.