Switzerland and Europe as seen by cartoonist Chappatte

Swiss cartoonist Patrick Chappatte is the first non-American to receive the Thomas Nast Award, the most prestigious press prize in the United States after the Pulitzer. For 20 years he has been making readers laugh and think on both sides of the Atlantic. “We're surrounded by Europe. The cross-border workers are among us! The foreigners are coming and crowding our trains!” These are some of the statements you can read in his new collection of over 120 cartoons published between 1992 and 2014. The book focuses on Switzerland, its foreigners and its relations with Europe, as well as on the omnipresent populist strongman Christoph Blocher and his rightwing Swiss People’s Party. The collection is testimony to Chappatte’s keen eye, artistry and his sense of irony and mockery, which is hard-hitting but never hostile. Chappatte has published 16 books (including three cartoon stories). His cartoons appear in the Geneva-based daily newspaper Le Temps and he also works for the Swiss ...