The third and final volume in Ho Che Anderson's award-winning comics biography of the Rev. Martin Luther King. Praised for its vivid recreation of this tumultuous period in US history and for its accuracy in depicting King's personal and public lives; this volume picks up where 2002's second volume left off: LBJ signs the Civil Rights bill into law and Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference begin their northern campaign by moving into the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale; Illinois. After a largely unsuccessful effort to reduce racial tensions and organize Black resistance into a democratic political force; King is persuaded to go to Memphis to lead a march in support of the city's sanitation workers. The march turns violent; but in order to maintain his credibility; King decides to go back and try to lead a second; peaceful march. His return trip to Memphis will be the last trip King makes. Anderson's writing and art illuminates King's deeply felt; personal commitment to a public cause as well as the wider political eruptions the country was experiencing through a rare and skillful combination of realistic and expressionistic imagery and naturalistic dialogue. This is a respectful; unsparing; truthful biography of a man and his times that captures the moral and political gravitas of the cause as well as its human dimension. Anderson's successful use of comics to tell a major work of history has drawn favorable comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale and Joe Sacco's Palestine. 68 pages b/w and 8 pages color.
#2607675 in Books Markus Wiener Publishers 2001-03-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .65 x 5.98l; .95 #File Name: 1558762434280 pages
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Alexander von Humboldt; a more-than-Renaissance-man and naturalist's manysided description of Cuba before 1850By Frank T. ManheimThis book is a modern reprint of a book translated from Spanish and French texts and edited by J.S. Thrasher in 1856. Thrasher also provides a long (95 page) essay on von Humboldt's observations on Cuba. Let me note in passing that I can't make sense of the earlier review of this book. Its author writes as though he is not aware that von Humboldt lived from 1769 to 1859 and is widely regarded as a great pioneer of oceanography; biogeography and other fields.I had heard much about Alexander von Humboldt from college studies in geology and later but never read anything by him until buying this book. I was completely overwhelmed. In my experience; and I've made a special study of scientific and technical advances from the 17th Century to the present; von Humboldt may be the most many-sided scientist-naturalist in history (possibly excepting Aristotle). To judge from his writings on Cuba; nothing he observed and wrote about was not examined to the degree of detail possible; not only through his own observations; but by his remarkable resourcefulness in pulling out every possible piece of information from data sources of his time.Von Humboldt's travels to Latin America from 1799 to 1804 ended with travel to North America (including intensive discussions about science with President Thomas Jefferson) before returning to Europe. He spent only a few months in Cuba; so that all of the data in the book after 1804; with references as late as 1846; must be from later sources.Von Humboldt begins with an overview of the general comparative geography and political history in the northern Caribbean. He then adds summaries of the populations in historical context; pointing out questions of the validity of some data. He makes a special point of noting puzzling conflicts in data about the earliest estimates of native populations and absence of Indians later (contrasted with continental Central America). Recent authors like Jared Diamond (in his book; Guns; Germs; and Steel; have pointed out that native populations in North America are now believed to have been much larger than earlier estimates in the 17th and early 18th century up through the 20th Century - because native populations were decimated by European diseases through indirect transmissions even before tribes ever encountered a white man. It appears that Humboldt's data point to the likelihood that in addition to brutal treatment by early Spanish conquistadors disease and suicide may have helped eradicate native Indian populations on Cuba.v.H. has a later chapter on slavery; giving detailed statistics on racial distributions. The author abhors slavery and refers critically to its practice in America. He notes that at least Cuba had the most liberal policy for slaves buying or otherwise gaining freedom in the colonized slave-employing area.Von Humboldt describes geology; vulcanology; mineralogy; and soils distribution of Cuba; followed by botany and physical properties. Von Humboldt not only provides detailed temperature and barometric statistics but was the first to attempt a quantitative latititudinal temperature and magnetic zonation of the earth; based in part on own observations. To gauge these other of his great syntheses remember that there was no Google; no published library catalogues or interlibrary loan services in the early 18th Century!It's difficult for me to put in words that may not seem like overkill my impression of von Humboldt's modern (in the best sense) way of writing; with emphasis on compiling comprehensive and precise detail (to the degree possible) on human affairs - populations; disease; economy and trade; social and political status and practices; history; as well as the natural science of the Island of Cuba. We are now used to scientists limiting themselves to their discipline - though the benefits of broadened perspectives are well demonstrated by Diamond and a few others. Add Humboldt's clearly expressed opinions about human values (completely admirable to my mind) and you have an individual that I'd put ahead of "Renaissance man" - which implies a set of qualities largely limited to skills and interests; not necessarily including concern for the human condition.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. ABy Manuel CartaA most meticulous study of agriculture a ;finances and politic of the nineteen century Cuba. It is a must to read by any one interested in its culture and financial development.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Exhaustingly complete Geological-Sociological Cuba in mid 1800sBy Julio ClaretUnique perspective of the dictator-plagued island fromdays of Spanish colony- mid 1800s--- German anthropologistgoes into exhausting (that is the key word) details aboutGeology and Sociology. As a Cuban; I learned a lot from it.
