Thanks to Rosie Croft from Pen & Sword for sending me an early paperback copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.

I am not a big reader of graphic novels and books (I used to read them when I was younger but not that much in recent years), but this title caught my attention due to the subject matter and to the authors and contributors. The book, which was first published in French in 2018, had some excellent reviews, and although I’m not an expert, in my opinion they are well deserved.

The book is not a full biography (we don’t see the great man die), but we follow him from early childhood until the end of World War II, and especial attention is given to the war period. The book also includes a foreword by Andrew Roberts —an expert on Churchill who has written about him and about WWII— endorsing the book, and an introduction (with B&W and colour photographs) and brief biography of Churchill by François Kersaudy, historical consultant of the volume, which further enhances the content.

The illustrations are beautiful and well-executed, in a classical style, with an interesting use of colours and shadows. Although they are in full colour, green, ochre, brown, and dark hues predominate from the beginning, as if foreshadowing the coming war, and the last part of the book (approximately the last fifty pages) are dedicated fully to World War II. There is a predominance of illustrations about his public life (as a war reporter, in the military, and later as a politician), but there are also some about his personal life, where we get to see Churchill, the man. The moments of action are interspersed with some quieter ones, although the illustrations dealing with the war, attacks, and action, are particularly fine and impressive. The text complements the images perfectly, and the writer has chosen the materials well, highlighting snippets of speeches and expressions he is well known for. That does not mean the book paints an unrealistic picture of Churchill, showing him as heroic and always right, without flaws or foibles. The man emerges from the picture as well, with his stubbornness, his recklessness at times, and his determination to do whatever necessary (not always the most suitable attitude for a politician, although the opposite isn’t particularly desirable either).

This is a great book to introduce Churchill to people of all ages who might not be too familiar with his biography, or know very little about him, who like to experiment with other formats rather than the standard book or are fans of graphic novels and books, and who enjoy their history in bite-size and visual format. The book is larger than a standard paperback, and it would make a beautiful present for anybody interested in the subject, in WWII, or just fans of graphic novels.  It’s also particularly appealing at this time of crisis, when the role of politicians has come to the fore, and it’s impossible not to compare our current leaders with some memorable figures from the past and wonder how they might have dealt with the situation.

(There are, of course, action scenes depicting the war, although not particularly gross or explicitly gore, although parents of very young children might want to check the book themselves beforehand).

I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

 

The life of Martin Luther, the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation, has been written about for centuries yet now it can not only be written about but visualized as well.  Renegade: Martin Luther, the Graphic Biography by Andrea Grosso Ciponte and Dacia Palmerino is exactly what its title says about the man who sparked a change in history.

 

Depicting the life of Luther from his childhood to his death, the biography focuses on his time as a monk led up to and through his break with Rome.  At 153 pages there is only so much that can be covered and only so much context as well through sometimes the visual aspect of the graphic novel does come in handy.  While the short length of the book obviously foreshadowed only the barest minimum that could be covered on his life, yet the graphic novel aspect seemed to offer a way to enhance the chronicling of Luther’s life.  Unfortunately the artwork looks like screen caps of a video game with so-so graphics with only a few great pages of art, usually at the beginning of each chapter.

 

The overall quality of the biographical and artwork content of Renegade is a mixed bag of a passable chronicle on Luther’s life and so-so artwork.  While some younger readers than myself might find it a very good read and hopefully make them want to know more about Martin Luther and the Reformation, I found it a tad underwhelming.

Not too long after finishing Americanah, I chanced upon this graphic novel when perusing my local digital library. Conceptually, I love the idea of a graphic biography and (this is where the Americanah thing becomes relevant) was particularly interested to see how one might take on a racially-charged discourse. Given the amazing, iconic images of the Civil Rights movement, my expectations were pretty high.

 

As you may have guessed from my dearth of stars, I was a bit disappointed. First of all, I don't know how 112 pages could feel so long, but they did. If it weren't for library due dates, I might still be trudging through this. 

 

The author begins by challenging  Malcolm X's autobiographical truth, which is fine- but things just felt "weird" (for lack of a better term). There was a way in which the narrative seemed couched in certain racial clichés which, again, is fine (I'm no expert, and facts are facts- I found this review to be much better informed than anything I could produce), but there seemed to be a lack of nuance.

 

Malcolm's mother is the black woman, too proud to take handouts, willing to see her children suffer to such an extent that the "safety net" of the state had to swoop in to take control.

 

As Malcolm moves to the next stage of his life, he learns to live the life of the hustler which, among other things, involves getting your hair straightened- a moment that comes off as being clownish in manner.

 

It was also at this point that i lost all ability to discern characters visually. I get it, Malcolm was evolving, but it was downright confusing. For example, in the montage cell below, is that supposed to be Malcolm three times? If so, which one(s) is/are he/him? 

 

 

The story arc I enjoyed most, visually speaking, was Malcolm's becoming disillusioned with Elijah Muhammad (of the Nation of Islam- NOI). Here, the illustrations give the reader a hook to just how different a person can seem as one's understanding evolves. 

 

...Well, I DO have a new book shelf to fill up - which I spent hours organizing and uploading onto my shelves.  I over filled it, and manage to have some loose books that need a home, even after I parted ways with a few books I still had that I no longer wanted and sold on the same trip to Half-Price that I went sticker craazzzy.

 

The discount section of Half Prices have books that, for one reason or another, are now $3 or less.  Yes, already a great bargain - especially if you managed to find, say, the His Dark Materials Omnibus simply because they did not have room for more than two copies of it in the store for a deecent $3 price tag.   You cannot go absolutely nuts in the clearance section even once a week, however, or in short order you will be swimming in books.   This is apparent when you attend one of their sales, and your teensy red cart ends up being weighed down with this amount of books:

 

 

 

And the punch line - this was already $3 or less, but they were having a discount 50% off sale.   Everything you see was from the discount area - if I wanted to, this could keep me busy all winter - and I got it for less than $10, when you take into consideration that I got $5 off for selling back a few other books at the same time.

 

Jeez.

 

The children's books are for my nephew's Christmas presents.  I hope he'll like his grandma reading them to him!

 

I really wish that I could skip work tonight and do some real justice to my library, which is disorganized, dusty and, sadly, not by any stretch of the imagination uploaded to my shelves.  X . X

 

The good news is really this, though - I talked to my academic adviser today, and he told me that I only have three more classes to complete and I am so out of school, for good, that I really can't even begin to believe it.

 

Anyway - I'd better get a little bit of organization done before I have to shower and run out the door for a night of peddling over priced books, toys and calendars to haggard-looking folks.   I don't have any classes or work tomorrow, so I may spend it, cleaning, in my study.

I had never heard of Emma Goldman before this book crossed my desk on it's way to another library, she sounded interesting so I reserved the book and started reading. Emma was an anarchist at the turn of the 20th Century. A woman who started life in Tsarist Russia as a Jew and finished almost stateless in Canada, having spoken in many countries and been imprisoned many times. She was a woman before her time, but without her seed some thoughts would never have grown in people's minds. I closed it wondering what she would think about today. Most of the text is adapted from Emma Goldman's own words and details aren't spared.