Review by Booklist Review
Leftist historian Zinn extracts from his evergreen A People's History of the United States (1980), recruits foursquare labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki to gussy it up graphically, and voilà! A very good-looking (because historical photos are incorporated into the visual flow), engrossing, informative nonfiction graphic novel is born. The theme, imperialism, is closely adhered to, though the decision to begin after the Civil War ignores the first seven decades of U.S. land grabbing and scheming to get public money into private pockets. Uncomfortable truths are told about every U.S. war and military intervention since, the ongoing suppression of the Indians is well covered, and the baleful role of big money is reliably pointed out. How the civil-rights struggle relates to imperialism per se isn't explained, however, and Zinn's zeal for revolution (he scolds President Cleveland, who refused to attack Spain in Cuba, for not then supporting the Cuban rebels) makes it plain that this is an anti-imperialist, not an anti-armed aggression, history.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This "graphic adaptation" of Howard Zinn's A People's History of American Empire is, on almost every level, a disappointment. Its basic concept seems to be a Cliff's Notes version of the original, implying that the comics format makes information more accessible, without realizing that perhaps information might be lost in the process. The problems begin with introducing a caricature of Zinn as the narrator. We see Zinn at a podium, speaking the text of his book. One might suppose Zinn is an eccentric old professor, and this caricature does him no favors. From there the caricatures continue. Weakly rendered versions of American figures follow: the artwork by Konopacki resembles a high school yearbook artist's "humor" drawings. None of this would be quite so offensive if it wasn't such a squandered opportunity. Historical and polemical comics can be done well (James Sturm, Jack Jackson, Joe Sacco and others are masters of it), but when the artwork detracts and the whole thing feels like a grade-school exercise, it's hard to take seriously. And that's too bad, as Zinn is an important voice. In this case, however, he's been silenced. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
This adaptation of Zinn's A People's History of the United States chronicles the underside of American history-from the massacre at Wounded Knee to the Iraq war-in a personal and engaging way. An excellent supplement to general history texts that is politically charged and thought-provoking. (BookSmack! 6/23/09) (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-A study of empire-building by established politicians and big businesses from the 1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee through the current Iraq war. As nonfiction sequential art narrative, this stellar volume is compelling both as historical interpretation and you-are-there observation during many eras and in many climes. Konopacki melds realistic and energetic cartoons-Zinn lecturing in the present day, American and Vietnamese soldiers in the jungle, the Shah of Iran's White Revolution-with archival photos and document scraps to create a highly textured visual presentation. Each episode has its own period-specific narrator: Woody Guthrie sings about the Ludlow Massacre, a zoot suiter recounts the convergence of racial politics with popular music, and Zinn remembers his class-conscious boyhood through World War II soldiering and activism undertaken as a Civil Rights-era college professor. Politically charged, this book can't stand alone as a history text, but it is an essential component for contemporary American government education, as well as an easy work to suggest to both narrative nonfiction and sophisticated comics readers.-Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The unknown history and devastating impact of American imperial activities abroad. In this impressively ambitious, if scattered, new offering from Metropolitan's wide-ranging American Empire Project, left-wing historians Zinn (The Unraveling of the Bush Presidency, 2007, etc.) and Buhle (History/Brown Univ.; Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History, 2008, etc.) collaborate with graphic artist Konopacki on a graphic adaptation of key sections from Zinn's bestselling A People's History of the United States (1980). The book is imagined as a lecture on the ugly side of history, delivered by the lean, aging Zinn to a darkened auditorium, with each episode illustrated by Konopacki's almost childishly simple illustrations, sometimes crudely buttressed with grainy photographs. Occasionally, perky sidebars titled "ZINNformation" pop up to point readers to a modern analogy or an interesting bit of trivia. It's an effective technique for delivering this laundry list of despicable behavior, though at times the illustrations seem less than capable of truly rendering their subjects. After a prologue that describes the government's vengeful, knee-jerk reactions to 9/11 as "part of a continuing pattern of American behavior," the main narrative begins abruptly with the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890 and moves on to one head-shaking moment of infamy to another. Being that Zinn is most valuable for his insistence on shedding light on dark corners of American history, the book comes most alive when it is describing little-remembered episodes like the shameful American occupation of the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, cleverly enlisting Mark Twain's embittered, virtually unknown writings on the subject. The authors' thesis--that America's imperial war machine manufactures conflicts abroad to further its economic interests while stoking consumer demand and tamping down dissent at home--is not developed as fully as it should be, and current wars are strangely missing. An overly episodic but nonetheless powerful teaching tool for the next generation of anti-imperialist activists. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
