Overview

The landmark work of comics journalism - by the author of Safe Area- Gorazde. A powerful graphic novel, capturing the heart of day-to-day life in occupied Palestine. In late 1991 and early 1992, at the time of the first Intifada, Joe Sacco spent two months with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, travelling and taking notes. Upon returning to the United States he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combines the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation. He captures the heart of the Palestinian experience in image after unforgettable image, with great insight and remarkable humour. The nine-issue comics series won a l996 American Book Award. It is now published for the first time in one volume, befitting its status as one of the great classics of graphic non-fiction. 'The bar is set extremely high when it comes to graphic books and the Middle East- one thinks of Joe Sacco's Palestine' Guy Delise 'Palestine is utterly compelling, and as affecting as the work of any war photographer or poet' Varsity

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9780224069823

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Reviews

'A political and aesthetic work of extraordinary originality, quite unlike any other in the long, often turgid and hopelessly twisted debates that have occupied Palestinians, Israelis, and their respective supporters... With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco.' Edward Said

A political and aesthetic work of extraordinary originality, quite unlike any other in the long, often turgid and hopelessly twisted debates that have occupied Palestinians, Israelis, and their respective supporters... With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco -- Edward Said The bar is set extremely high when it comes to graphic books and the Middle East: one thinks of Joe Sacco's Palestine Observer

This collection of Joe Sacco's nine-issue comic series, based on his personal investigation of the plight of the Palestinians, is chilling in its power. In 1991 and 1992, when Sacco visited the West Bank and the Gaza strip to research his material, he came armed with the cynical professionalism typical of modern reportage. But what he found there moved him to take sides, and produce work comparable in power to Art Spiegelmann's seminal graphic novel Maus. The magic of the comic illustrator's medium lies in the immediacy of the framed pictorial narrative. In the hands of artists like Sacco, the words and pictures combine to project ideas with an apparent honesty unlike any other medium, and his black-and-white sketches invest the human tragedy with a depth of emotion that even the best photojournalism cannot achieve. The series has been collected and published for the first time as a single volume. It has already won a 1996 American Book Award so its pedigree is eminently vouched for. In the current state of international affairs, when it seems the eyes of the world are focused on the issues raised by the Middle East and the manipulations of the great political powers, you will not find a better depiction of life in the occupied territories. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Joe Sacco was born in Malta and lives in Queens, New York. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in journalism. As well as the award-winning Palestine, his other book, Safe Area: Gorazde, about his time in Bosnia, won the Will Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel in 2001. In 2001 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on his next project.

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