Eugene V. Debs : a graphic biography

by Noah Van Sciver

Other authorsPaul Buhle (Author), Steve Max (Author)
Paper Book, 2019

Description

"Eugene Victor Debs led the Socialist Party in the early twentieth-century to federal and state office across the country, helped to pioneer a fighting union politics that organized all workers, and became the beloved figurehead of American radicalism. Imprisoned for speaking out against World War I, Debs ran for president from prison, receiving over one million votes. Debs's story is the story of labor battles in industrializing America, of a socialist politics grown directly out of the American Midwest heartland, and of a distinctly American vision of socialism. With the campaign of Bernie Sanders, the rise of mass movements like Occupy and Black Lives Matter, and the Wall Street Crash of 2008, socialism has once again made itself felt in American politics. This graphic biography, published in collaboration with the Democratic Socialists of America--whose growing membership, spurred by Trump's election and Bernie Sanders' campaign, has reached heights not seen among socialist parties since the 1920s--is geared toward a new generation exploring socialist and working-class radicalism in the past and the present. Noah Van Sciver's dynamic illustrations are paired with short, accessible framing essays by Paul Buhle, noted historian of the U.S. left, with Dave Nance and Steve Max"--… (more)

Status

Available

Call number

335/.3092B

Publication

London ; Brooklyn, NY : Verso, 2019

User reviews

LibraryThing member villemezbrown
The authors of this graphic biography are so bad at writing comic books that they felt compelled to add four to six pages of text at the start of every chapter to try to explain the choppy, opaque, context-free mess that follows.

My favorite non sequitur comes at the end of Chapter 2 when we are
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told, "Depressed at his wife's death in an automobile accident, the great editor, J. A. Wayland, commits suicide." Wayland had only been referenced previously in one panel as the editor of the Appeal to Reason, a socialist newspaper. If his death is so important, perhaps his life should have been also?

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Time Line of Debs's Life -- Debs: An Introduction -- 1. The Rise of Eugene V. Debs -- 2. "Debsian Socialism" -- 3. Triumph – and the Edge of Tragedy -- 4. Martyr Debs -- 5. The Debs Legacy: Norman Thomas, Michael Harrington, Bernie Sanders -- Further Reading -- Acknowledgments -- List of Sustaining Contributors
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LibraryThing member ericlee
The colourful Eugene V. Debs would make a wonderful subject for a graphic novel but unfortunately, this is not the book I'd recommend. A text-heavy graphic novel that cannot decide if it's "Debs for beginners" or something far more serious. It is filled with half-ideas, people and institutions that
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pop in for a moment, are never introduced, and who then disappear a moment later. (Will anyone reading it know who Daniel De Leon was? Or for that matter, William Winpisinger?) Much is done to show Debs as if he was a 21st century politician, far ahead of his time on issues like race and gender, though one wonders how true this is. (The party he led was hardly free of racism and sexism.) There are passing references, largely uncritical, about the Bolsheviks and their American supporters. A not insignificant part of the book focusses on American socialism post-Debs, showing Norman Thomas as a rather nice old man and Michael Harrington in a very critical light. The authors' political agenda is evident on every page, but the real Eugene Debs does not come alive here. A pity -- this was such a great idea for a book.
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LibraryThing member kencf0618
Mediocre as a graphic novel, you nonetheless get a sense of the style of the man and the turbulence of his times. Most of the history of the far left in the U.S. is organized labor history (which has fallen off the radar -people died, people had their heads cracked open, etc.) We didn't get the
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40-hour workweek by asking nicely; it took militancy.
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Language

Original publication date

2019

ISBN

1786636875 / 9781786636874
Page: 0.4275 seconds