Billionaires

The super-rich are often portrayed as self-made, as if their wealth was created entirely by their own efforts. But is this true? In his latest book of graphic analysis, celebrated author Darryl Cunningham examines the evidence, featuring graphic biographies of media baron Rupert Murdoch, oil and gas tycoons Charles and David Koch, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Have these individuals enjoyed advantages, beyond their personal ability and attributes, that have aided their success? Cunningham makes comparisons with the `Gilded Age' (1870s to 1900), the last period in America in which a few individuals gained colossal wealth. Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt and others made fortunes, but also helped create the modern world of railroads, manufacturing, and finance. What essential elements have the modern equivalents brought us? Despite the often reported disadvantages brought by the widening gulf between the poorest and the super rich, are such wealthy individuals necessary to finance technological progress? Would we be poorer without them?

About the Author :
Darryl Cunningham is the cartoonist/writer of Psychiatric Tales (Blank Slate 2010), Science Tales (Myriad Editions 2013), Supercrash: How to Hijack the Global Economy (Myriad Editions 2014) and Graphic Science (Myriad Editions 2017). All factual based books that explore subjects as diverse as mental health, science, economics and politics. He has given talks at the London School of Economics and the City of Arts and Lights, Valencia. In 2015 he was one of 30 world-renowned photographers, painters, sculptors, writers, filmmakers and musicians who were invited to contribute to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Art of Saving a Life project, to promote vaccination in the developing world. In 2018 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Master of Arts from Leeds Arts University.

Review :
Darryl Cunningham's non-fiction work is undoubtedly some of the most crucially important practice to have emerged in UK comics in the last decade. ANDY OLIVER - BROKEN FRONTIER It can take other authors whole books to say what Darryl can say in a single illustration.JON RONSON Like Darryl Cunningham’s previous graphic novels, Billionaires displays his brilliant faculty for communicating serious and complex information in an accessible and entertaining way—something that the comic media can excel at. Immaculately researched and clearly told, this book should be required reading—by everyone! BRYAN TALBOT Billionaires takes some very important and complex subjects and distils all of that huge amount of research into a clear, thoughtful narrative that delivers detail without overloading the reader, and does so in a hugely compelling and fascinating manner. At this rate I think Darryl Cunningham may be becoming the UK’s equivalent to the great Larry Gonick, and our vibrant comics scene is all the richer for his work. Hugely recommended reading. JOE GORDON, DOWN THE TUBES It's often dark, it's often funny and it often exposes some very dirty deeds. It's just astonishingly good. LIZ GREEN, BBC RADIO LEEDS As a writer and illustrator, Cunningham excels and there's an irresistible symbiosis between the words and the minimalist drawings. The graphic characterisation of these betes noires are beautifully succinct, with the frame composition immaculate and the sparse use of flat colour adding clarity. This is a most timely book, particularly as rebellion against pollution of the environment ought to go hand in hand with the pollution of our minds. MORNING STAR (A) tremendously well researched comic book… I am a big fan. I’m always in awe of the amount of information that Darryl manages to pack in to every one of his comic books. ROBIN INCE, BOOK OF THE DAY