Searing disputes over caricature have recently sparked flames across the world-the culmination, not the beginning of the story of one of modernity's definitive artistic practices. This essay collection explores caricature's rise, its spread across North America and Europe, and the visual cultures of its production, its political, social, and art historical milieu. It weighs visual satire's vaunted civilizational claims on individual character, artistic supremacy, political liberty, and global domination.