And More Graphic Novels! Plus Bonus Terry Deary
Well, not novels. These are nonfiction.
Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, by Andy Warner
Short, silly, fun, and fast. Andy Warner has taken a large collection of everyday items, from the toothbrush to Monopoly, and created brief, three-page graphic depictions of bizarre or interesting information about their creation. For example, paper spurred the development of the Arab Golden Age, and was acquired when Arabic forces captured two Chinese papermakers who swapped the ability to make paper (at least in their style) for their lives. Warner depicts this and other tales in an engaging graphic style, with funny dialogue (made up, unless sourced) and an extensive bibliography. He also includes a short section called "Briefer Histories," which contains random but interesting facts. There's a minor running joke about inventors who failed to patent their world-changing inventions who then died poor; it's sad but entertaining the way Warner puts it, and I hope they enjoy their rent-saving house together.
In short, this is fun and fast. Don't pick this up looking for in-depth history or any analysis; it's a visual fact book, but a good one. It has some genuinely interesting and new information alongside the old stories. Definitely a recommendation for a bored afternoon when you'd like to learn something new.
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, by Nathan Hale
This is one in a series entitled Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, of which the conceit is that American spy Nathan Hale tells his executioners random horrible stories from history, like the Donner Party, or World War I in this book. Possibly this is in an attempt to put off his execution? I'm not sure. but I do want to point out that the author's name actually is Nathan Hale, that is not a conceit, and he is no relation as far as I can tell. I just think that's awesome.
That said. This is actually a very good series, but possibly this book in particular is a bit too much for its intended audience. I've been on something of a World War I spree lately, trying to learn as much about that frankly confusing conflict as I can, and this is the first book to really make me feel viscerally upset, with that weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's an upsetting period of history, of course it is. This war killed millions upon millions of people over what was basically a stupid feud, but somehow it was this book that really brought that home to me.
Hale uses animals to represent the different nations involved, much like Spieglman uses animals in Maus, and to the same devastating effect, especially when Hale reverts for a single frame to a pretty realistic drawing of the specific person in question. It's a horrible, tragic tale very well told, and explains the conflict as well as you CAN explain it. It brought me close to tears several times. I don't know that I would actually give this book to a child unless I was nearby to talk to them about it and make sure they were okay at the end, because it really is devastating. Bravo, Nathan Hale, but maybe save that for adults?
And a Terry Deary spree, why not.
Dangerous Days series, by Terry Deary
containing Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, Elizabethan England, and Victorian Railways (so far!)
Dangerous Days is Deary's new history series for adults, or at the very least young adults. It's in the juvenile section at my library, but that's really not an appropriate classification, at least not to me, as Deary discusses death in graphic medical detail and brings up sexual intrigue in, again, worrying detail. I'd save this for a preteen at the very earliest.
That said, I kind of love them. This is basically Deary's first series, Horrible Histories, that has been updated and aged up for an older audience. It has also been corrected for accuracy, as many of the Horrible Histories were written before several recent and major advances in historical research rendered many of them inaccurate. However, Deary sticks to his strengths here, concentrating on the little horrible details that really bring the past to life. Great books for the teenager who has aged past the Horrible Histories but still wants something fun and gruesome to read, or for the adult who refuses to age past the Horrible Histories but also wants something fun and gruesome to read. I'd definitely recommend these.
Cruel Crime and Painful Punishment, by Terry Deary
Back to the Horrible Histories. This is a little different from the majority of the series, which mainly concentrates on specific eras or events (in the case of the World Wars). Cruel Crime and Painful Punishment is instead an overview of crime and punishment through the ages. Arranged in roughly chronological order, it's a decently entertaining look at the truly horrible things human beings have done to each other in the name of justice and peacekeeping, as well as the truly horrible things we've done to one another in the name of, well, crime. A good addition to the Horrible Histories oeuvre.
Trenches, by Terry Deary
And now we circle back around and start talking about World War I again.
Trenches is an entry in a specific subset of the Horrible Histories called Horrible Histories Handbooks. I've reviewed another one here, but to recap, the handbooks cover specific topics in vaguely chronological order and go into more depth than the Horrible Histories can manage on their own. They're also just as funny as the originals and have illustrations in color.
I think Trenches did a better job than the Pirates handbook, in that it chose its subjects and organized itself better. It also does better with the "how to" guide conceit, since the World War I trenches are considerably more uniform than pirates through the ages. It does make allowances for the difference between the Allies and the Central Powers, organizing itself into part 1 (the Allies) and part 2 (the Central Powers), with enough variation to stay interesting. It's much less heartwrenching than Nathan Hale's take on the subject, but it also doesn't try to explain the war or what's going on-- which, in a way, makes sense; who in the common infantry knew what the hell the war was about? Heck, who fighting in the war actually knew what the war was about? Who knows now?
Anyway. Good book. Would recommend both this and the general line of handbooks.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/414591.html. Please comment over there if possible.
Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, by Andy Warner
Short, silly, fun, and fast. Andy Warner has taken a large collection of everyday items, from the toothbrush to Monopoly, and created brief, three-page graphic depictions of bizarre or interesting information about their creation. For example, paper spurred the development of the Arab Golden Age, and was acquired when Arabic forces captured two Chinese papermakers who swapped the ability to make paper (at least in their style) for their lives. Warner depicts this and other tales in an engaging graphic style, with funny dialogue (made up, unless sourced) and an extensive bibliography. He also includes a short section called "Briefer Histories," which contains random but interesting facts. There's a minor running joke about inventors who failed to patent their world-changing inventions who then died poor; it's sad but entertaining the way Warner puts it, and I hope they enjoy their rent-saving house together.
In short, this is fun and fast. Don't pick this up looking for in-depth history or any analysis; it's a visual fact book, but a good one. It has some genuinely interesting and new information alongside the old stories. Definitely a recommendation for a bored afternoon when you'd like to learn something new.
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, by Nathan Hale
This is one in a series entitled Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, of which the conceit is that American spy Nathan Hale tells his executioners random horrible stories from history, like the Donner Party, or World War I in this book. Possibly this is in an attempt to put off his execution? I'm not sure. but I do want to point out that the author's name actually is Nathan Hale, that is not a conceit, and he is no relation as far as I can tell. I just think that's awesome.
That said. This is actually a very good series, but possibly this book in particular is a bit too much for its intended audience. I've been on something of a World War I spree lately, trying to learn as much about that frankly confusing conflict as I can, and this is the first book to really make me feel viscerally upset, with that weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's an upsetting period of history, of course it is. This war killed millions upon millions of people over what was basically a stupid feud, but somehow it was this book that really brought that home to me.
Hale uses animals to represent the different nations involved, much like Spieglman uses animals in Maus, and to the same devastating effect, especially when Hale reverts for a single frame to a pretty realistic drawing of the specific person in question. It's a horrible, tragic tale very well told, and explains the conflict as well as you CAN explain it. It brought me close to tears several times. I don't know that I would actually give this book to a child unless I was nearby to talk to them about it and make sure they were okay at the end, because it really is devastating. Bravo, Nathan Hale, but maybe save that for adults?
And a Terry Deary spree, why not.
Dangerous Days series, by Terry Deary
containing Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, Elizabethan England, and Victorian Railways (so far!)
Dangerous Days is Deary's new history series for adults, or at the very least young adults. It's in the juvenile section at my library, but that's really not an appropriate classification, at least not to me, as Deary discusses death in graphic medical detail and brings up sexual intrigue in, again, worrying detail. I'd save this for a preteen at the very earliest.
That said, I kind of love them. This is basically Deary's first series, Horrible Histories, that has been updated and aged up for an older audience. It has also been corrected for accuracy, as many of the Horrible Histories were written before several recent and major advances in historical research rendered many of them inaccurate. However, Deary sticks to his strengths here, concentrating on the little horrible details that really bring the past to life. Great books for the teenager who has aged past the Horrible Histories but still wants something fun and gruesome to read, or for the adult who refuses to age past the Horrible Histories but also wants something fun and gruesome to read. I'd definitely recommend these.
Cruel Crime and Painful Punishment, by Terry Deary
Back to the Horrible Histories. This is a little different from the majority of the series, which mainly concentrates on specific eras or events (in the case of the World Wars). Cruel Crime and Painful Punishment is instead an overview of crime and punishment through the ages. Arranged in roughly chronological order, it's a decently entertaining look at the truly horrible things human beings have done to each other in the name of justice and peacekeeping, as well as the truly horrible things we've done to one another in the name of, well, crime. A good addition to the Horrible Histories oeuvre.
Trenches, by Terry Deary
And now we circle back around and start talking about World War I again.
Trenches is an entry in a specific subset of the Horrible Histories called Horrible Histories Handbooks. I've reviewed another one here, but to recap, the handbooks cover specific topics in vaguely chronological order and go into more depth than the Horrible Histories can manage on their own. They're also just as funny as the originals and have illustrations in color.
I think Trenches did a better job than the Pirates handbook, in that it chose its subjects and organized itself better. It also does better with the "how to" guide conceit, since the World War I trenches are considerably more uniform than pirates through the ages. It does make allowances for the difference between the Allies and the Central Powers, organizing itself into part 1 (the Allies) and part 2 (the Central Powers), with enough variation to stay interesting. It's much less heartwrenching than Nathan Hale's take on the subject, but it also doesn't try to explain the war or what's going on-- which, in a way, makes sense; who in the common infantry knew what the hell the war was about? Heck, who fighting in the war actually knew what the war was about? Who knows now?
Anyway. Good book. Would recommend both this and the general line of handbooks.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/414591.html. Please comment over there if possible.