Book: Pigs Have Wings

Overview
Don Herold's Pigs Have Wings presents a jaunty collection of comic essays and drawings that playfully interrogate the manners, anxieties, and absurdities of early 1930s American life. Delivered in Herold's economical, epigrammatic prose, the book turns everyday observations into small theatrical scenes and one-line wisecracks, balancing gentle satire with a humane curiosity about human foibles. The title itself acts as a running joke: improbable things happen, but the laughter is more a method of coping than mere cynicism.

Content and Style
The pieces move briskly between short, self-contained sketches and longer humorous reflections, often anchored by Herold's cartoons or small vignette illustrations that underline the punchlines. His humor is concise and visual; a line will set up a domestic tableau, poke a hole in pretension, and leave the reader smiling at the careful absurdity. The writing favors irony and paradox over broad caricature, and Herold frequently adopts mock-serious voices that lampoon authority, fashion, and modern conveniences without descending into cruelty.

Themes
Recurring themes include the collision between traditional expectations and modern novelty, the performative side of respectability, and the ways economic strain reshapes ordinary behavior. Against the backdrop of the Depression era, Herold's humor rarely addresses despair directly; instead it homes in on the small compromises and comic illusions people erect to preserve dignity and hope. There is also a persistent strain of affectionate skepticism toward experts and social pretensions, with Herold treating both philosophers and salesmen as willing participants in life's little theatricalities.

Tone and Technique
Herold's tone is wry and conversational, frequently leaning on understatement and the sudden reversal for comedic effect. He uses brief anecdotes, aphorisms, and mock-instructional passages to subvert readers' expectations and to show how language itself can be absurdly persuasive. The accompanying drawings act as visual footnotes, often amplifying an ironic line or offering a counterpoint that changes the reader's take on the preceding paragraph. This interplay of text and image gives the book a light, variegated rhythm, comfortable to dip into and rewarding on rereading.

Audience and Impact
Pigs Have Wings offered timely relief to readers who sought levity during difficult times, and its humor resonated with people attuned to urban life, middle-class anxieties, and the small absurdities of public behavior. While not polemical or overtly political, the book's social observations register as a gentle critique of contemporary manners and the myths of progress. Herold's influence can be traced in later American humorists who favor crisp, observational prose and visual wit, and the book remains a compact example of Depression-era comic writing.

Legacy
Seen today, the collection reads as both a period piece and a study in durable comic techniques, sharp timing, economical phrasing, and compassionate mockery. Its sketches capture a moment in cultural history while also offering broader insights into the human tendency to make sense of hardship through humor. The result is a lively, humane volume that invites readers to laugh at the improbable and to appreciate the craft behind the joke.