Book-It '10! Book #48
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: After 9/11: America's War on Terror (2001- ) by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón
Details: Copyright 2008, Hill and Wang
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Having made The 9/11 Commission Report understandable for everyone, the award-winning, bestselling team of Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón use all their considerable talents to explain the post-9/11 world. Working from news reports drawn from multiple international media, Jacobson and Colón depict the critical events, decision makers, and consequences of America's "war on terror", and, most important, the context in which the war began, unfolded, and unraveled. The most demanding story they have ever tackled, After 9/11 answers with clarity and unforgettable imagery the question: How exactly did we end up here?"
Why I Wanted to Read It: I read on the AP ticker that a graphic novel of Anne Frank's diary was being released. A big fan of the graphic novel form, I quickly found out as much as I could and discovered that the artists that created the new book had several others under their collective belt. After having read The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, the "follow-up" seemed to be this book.
How I Liked It: This particular book, unlike the previous, is not based on any kind of narrative other than the authors'. It's at times meandering and with pointedly no clear ending (the book concludes with an epilogue that notes "This is an incomplete end to an incomplete war."), there's not really a clear story being told and calling the book "a work of graphic journalism" seems to try and mask this fact. Indeed, the War on Terror is a muddled story and a subjective term. Do we need a graphic novel (or any book) to tell us this, particularly indirectly? While the book notes the various news stories not directly related (Hurricane Katrina, Cheney's hunting incident, the Virginia Tech massacre) in a way that simulates the distracted, shifting gaze of the media, the efforts remain muddled.
The graphics are particularly well-done, seemingly to make up for the lack of narrative. Gone this time is the insidious Muslim/Arab stereotypes that darkened the previous book and the Muslim civilians actually look like civilians this time.
Notable: The book, mindful of the upcoming elections, offers many sound-bites and reactions from then front-runners John McCain and Hillary Clinton, respectively. Interestingly, the Illinois senator that would become our forty-fourth president is not depicted.
Title: After 9/11: America's War on Terror (2001- ) by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón
Details: Copyright 2008, Hill and Wang
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Having made The 9/11 Commission Report understandable for everyone, the award-winning, bestselling team of Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón use all their considerable talents to explain the post-9/11 world. Working from news reports drawn from multiple international media, Jacobson and Colón depict the critical events, decision makers, and consequences of America's "war on terror", and, most important, the context in which the war began, unfolded, and unraveled. The most demanding story they have ever tackled, After 9/11 answers with clarity and unforgettable imagery the question: How exactly did we end up here?"
Why I Wanted to Read It: I read on the AP ticker that a graphic novel of Anne Frank's diary was being released. A big fan of the graphic novel form, I quickly found out as much as I could and discovered that the artists that created the new book had several others under their collective belt. After having read The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, the "follow-up" seemed to be this book.
How I Liked It: This particular book, unlike the previous, is not based on any kind of narrative other than the authors'. It's at times meandering and with pointedly no clear ending (the book concludes with an epilogue that notes "This is an incomplete end to an incomplete war."), there's not really a clear story being told and calling the book "a work of graphic journalism" seems to try and mask this fact. Indeed, the War on Terror is a muddled story and a subjective term. Do we need a graphic novel (or any book) to tell us this, particularly indirectly? While the book notes the various news stories not directly related (Hurricane Katrina, Cheney's hunting incident, the Virginia Tech massacre) in a way that simulates the distracted, shifting gaze of the media, the efforts remain muddled.
The graphics are particularly well-done, seemingly to make up for the lack of narrative. Gone this time is the insidious Muslim/Arab stereotypes that darkened the previous book and the Muslim civilians actually look like civilians this time.
Notable: The book, mindful of the upcoming elections, offers many sound-bites and reactions from then front-runners John McCain and Hillary Clinton, respectively. Interestingly, the Illinois senator that would become our forty-fourth president is not depicted.