about the book
Just about every student in the United States studies the Civil War at one time or another. It usually involves reading about a bunch of brutal battles, memorizing a lot of old dates, and writing a boring report about either a long dead white general or a rambling political argument. But that was a long time ago and really doesn’t involve us, right?
Well, this graphic novel looks at the Civil War and the Reconstruction in a far different way. It focuses on the personal stories of those that lived through the appalling carnage of this conflict and how it transformed their day-to-day existence. What’s more, it reminds us that these were our not-so-distant ancestors.
Each of the fifteen harrowing short stories begins with a common object: a newspaper, a pair of opera glasses, a brick, an inkwell, a diary, or a tattered American flag. Each features a different character: a mosquito, a slave, a farmer, a nurse, or a soldier.
The first story begins with the front page of the Charleston Courier, April 12, 1861. It reads in bold letters THE UNION IS DISSOLVED. Another story set in 1861, Leg Irons, follows a black man who flees slavery only to be captured by Union soldiers. He just trades one set of leg irons for another. One story is set in the aftermath of a battle, where photographers joke and pose the dead!
Perhaps the story that gives the worst chill is the tale set in New York City in July of 1863. The draft could be avoided by paying a fee, simple enough for the rich. Told in the voices of three participants, this story follows the mob violence as frustrated poor immigrants strike out in fear and hate against the federal institutions and the free blacks who live in the city.
Through these short tales, readers will gain an understanding of the underlying causes of the war; the ideologies and strategies of the two opposing sides; the cruelties, savagery, and irony of the conflict; and the emotional toll and shattering costs to every American. But be prepared. The Civil War shattered families, left 1.5 million wounded and over 850,000 dead. War doesn’t lend itself to happy conclusions.
about the author
Ari Kelman was born December 5, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a professor of History at Penn State University and teaches a wide range of classes, including environmental and Native American history, the politics of memory, and courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction.
His interests in the Civil War and Native American history came together when he was a grad student at Brown University studying under Bill McLoughlin. Ari was writing his dissertation on the Cherokees’ decision to fight with the South during the Civil War, but when Bill died suddenly, no one at the college could direct Ari’s work.
Having to pick another subject, Ari decided to tackle the environmental history of the city of New Orleans. After graduation, Ari moved on to Oklahoma and then to Denver to continue his research on Native Americans during the Civil War era. He discovered a letter written by an Indiana farm boy about the Sand Creek Massacre. There is a great deal of controversy about this event, and that letter lead to his book on the intersection of history and memory.
The book enticed an editor to approach Ari to write a very short history of the Civil War. Since it is such a complex subject, Ari thought it couldn’t be done. Still, he became obsessed with the idea of telling the story of the war using the absolute minimum number of words. One morning he awoke with the perfect idea—a graphic history. When he presented the idea, he was told it was “absolute garbage!” Determined, he worked hard to get the idea accepted. Jonathan Fetter-Vorm was signed on to co-write and illustrate the project, which took over four years to complete Ari says the book should come with a warning. It is a dark, grim graphic novel.
Ari currently lives in State College, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two sons. His middle-grader read Battle Lines and claims it is “not bad.” Ari feels that is high praise from his teen son!
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Macmillan
Author interview: History News Network
Author video lecture on the Sand Creek Massacre: YouTube
about the co-author and illustrator
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm was born and raised in Montana. He liked to draw and especially liked how comics told a story visually. By grade school, he was creating his own. He went on to study history at Stanford, but after graduating, he sought a more creative job, apprenticing to a letter press printer and hand-bookbinder.
His interest in history and science reappeared in his award-winning graphic novel, Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb. His artwork has also appeared in adaptations of Beowulf, Moby Dick, and in The New York Times, Slate, and Guernica. He worked quite closely with Ari Kelman on the Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War.
In this graphic novel, Jonathan had to draw a lot of people. He uses photographs in his research, and the challenge was to change static head shots into action-filled characters with lots of emotions. When he draws a person, he’ll scrunch up his face to imitate the emotion he is drawing. With people, he never wants his image to be the same as the photo; with scenery or objects, he wants to make the image recognizable to the reader but come up with a different view. It’s a big challenge, especially if he is drawing something that can’t be caught by a camera, like the inside of an atom or a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun.
Mostly, he admits, he just tries to avoid drawing straight lines!
Jonathan currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Sources:
Author/Illustrator website
Author/Illustrator interview: Huffington Post
Video about illustrating: YouTube
Also Illustrated by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm:
Trinity : A Graphic History of the First American Bomb. Hill & Wang. 2012.
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