The World History Shelf

Postcards from Congo: A Graphic History
Edmund Trueman, author/illustrator
Arsenal Pulp Press
www.arsenalpulp.com
9781551528953, $19.95, PB, 176pp

https://www.amazon.com/Postcards-Congo-Graphic-Edmund-Trueman/dp/1551528959

Synopsis: The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second-largest country in=
Africa by area. It has had a fractured and bloody history, variously undon=
e by decades of colonialism, civil war, corruption, and totalitarian rule. = The country has played a crucial role in the economic growth of the Global = North, but in doing so, has suffered immensely. So many seminal advances in=
technology were possible only through the extraction of materials from Con=
go ranging from rubber to copper to uranium to coltan. In each case, the Co= ngolese people paid a great price exacerbated by the weight of colonial exp= loitation and dictatorial rule.

"Postcards from Congo: A Graphic History" is comprehensive graphic style hi= story in which author and illustrator Edmund Trueman explores the fractious=
story of Congo. Through deft illustrations and storytelling, Congo's histo=
ry (not widely known to Western readers) comes vividly alive. We see how Co= ngolese musicians have spread their language across Africa by creating some=
of the most popular music on the continent, and how Congolese women have s= pent decades sidestepping sexist legislation to become leaders in local bus= iness.

From resistance against colonialism to the fight for independence and the s= elf-determination to make a life in an almost stateless place, "Postcards f= rom Congo: A Graphic History" depicts how the Congolese people have resiste=
d and survived in order to take control of their lives and the country they=
call home.

Critique: Informative enhanced for the reader with the Inclusion of a Forew= ord by historian Didier Gondola, Professor of African History at Johns Hopk= ins University, "Postcards from Congo: A Graphic History" is a fascinating,=
informative, and thought-provoking approach to history that takes a kind o=
f graphic novel approach to telling a non-fiction history. While available = for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), "Postc= ards from Congo: A Graphic History" will hold interest for readers wanting =
to know more about central African history in general, and the Republic of = Congo in particular. In a format that could well serve as a template for si= milar histories of other African nations, "Postcards from Congo: A Graphic = History" is unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university=
library African History collections.

Editorial Note #1: Edmund Trueman (https://arsenalpulp.com/Contributors/T/T= rueman-Edmund) has been creating and self-publishing underground comics for=
the last decade. He has written from his own experience about topics rangi=
ng from the refugee crisis to the squatting movement. Postcards from Congo =
is his first long-form graphic non-fiction work, and his first work dealing=
with African history.

Editorial Note #2: Didier Gondola (https://history.jhu.edu/directory/didier= -gondola) is Professor of African History at Johns Hopkins University. He h=
as a PhD in African History from the Universite Paris 7 in 1993. His public= ations include numerous articles and chapters on popular cultures (music, f= ashion, gambling, and memory), gender and postcolonial issues in Central Af= rica and the African diaspora in France. His most recent book is Tropical C= owboys: Youth Gangs, Violence, and Masculinities in Colonial Kinshasa (Indi= ana University Press).

Travellers of the World Revolution
Brigitte Studer
Verso
www.versobooks.com
9781839768019, $39.95, HC, 496pp

https://www.amazon.com/Travellers-World-Revolution-Communist-International/= dp/1839768010

Synopsis: The Communist International was the first organised attempt to br= ing about worldwide revolution and left a lasting mark on 20th-century hist= ory. With the publication of "Travellers of the World Revolution: A Global = History of the Communist International", Professor Brigitte Studer offers a=
new and fascinating account of this transnational organization which was f= ounded in 1919 by Lenin and Trotsky and dissolved by Stalin in 1943 -- and = telling that story through the eyes of the activists who became its "profes= sional revolutionaries."

Professor Studer follows such figures as Willi Munzenberg, Mikhail Borodin,=
M.N. Roy and Evelyn Trent, Tina Modotti, Agnes Smedley and many others les=
s well-known as they are despatched to the successive political hotspots of=
the 1920s and '30s, from revolutionary Berlin to Baku, from Shanghai to Sp= ain, from Nazi Germany to Stalin's Moscow.

"Travellers of the World Revolution" traces their journeys from revolutiona=
ry hope to accommodation, defeat or death, looking at questions of motivati=
on and commitment, agency and negotiation, of life and love, conflict and f= rustration. In doing so, it reveals a forgotten Comintern, the expression o=
f a multi-dimensional revolutionary moment, which attracted not only workin= g-class but feminist, anti-racist, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist activ= ists, highlighting the role of women in the Comintern and the centrality of=
anti-colonialism to the Communist project.

This outstanding study finally concludes with a reflection on the ultimate = demise of a historically unique undertaking.

Critique: An exceptionally well researched, impressively written, deftly or= ganized, accessibly presented, and comprehensive political history, "Travel= lers of the World Revolution: A Global History of the Communist Internation= al" is a seminal work of meticulous scholarship, making it a critically imp= ortant and unreservedly recommended contribution to personal, professional,=
community, college, and university library Political Science/History colle= ctions. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist gener=
al readers with an interest in the 20th Century history of Communism and So= cialism, that "Travellers of the World Revolution" is also readily availabl=
e in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Brigitte Studer (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brigi= tte-Studer) is a historian and professor emerita of contemporary history at=
the University of Bern. A specialist in gender history and social and poli= tical history, she has written extensively on political activism, internati= onal Communism and Stalinism, citizenship, welfare and employment protectio=
n as well as on female suffrage and women's movements. Her books have been = published in English, German, French, Italian, Russian and Turkish. She has=
taught at the Universities of Geneva and Zurich and at Washington Universi=
ty (St.Louis, USA). She has also been a visiting professor at the EHESS in = Paris and at the University of Strathclyde, and senior visiting fellow at t=
he University of Vienna and at the University of London's Institute of Hist= orical Research.

A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives
Philip Matyszak and Joanne Berry
Thames & Hudson
https://thamesandhudson.com
9780500297056, $16.95 pbk / $12.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/History-Ancient-Rome-100-Lives/dp/0500297053

Synopsis: A vibrant portrait of a lost world, A History of Ancient Rome in = 100 Lives reveals the mightiest civilization of antiquity through the eyes =
of one hundred of its citizens. The book gives a voice not just to Rome's m= ost famous generals and rulers, such as Caesar and Caligula, but also to it=
s builders, sculptors, poets, historians, gladiators, shepherds, enslaved p= eople, and courtesans.

The book begins with Faustulus, the foster father of Romulus and Remus, and=
closes with the final emperor, Romulus Augustulus. The stories of Roman wo= men are given their due as well - from Servilia, Caesar's lover; to Agrippi= na, the murderous wife of Claudius; Amazonia, the sword-swinging gladiator;=
and Hypatia, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. Exploring every l= evel of society and using the latest archaeological evidence as well as anc= ient texts, the authors build up a picture of what it meant to live in Anci= ent Rome.

Critique: Now in an affordable paperback edition with 20 full-color illustr= ations, A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives is an engrossing tour of the=
Roman Empire's centuries of grandeur and decline through the biographies o=
f 100 individuals ranging from rulers and generals to scholars, Christian m= artyrs, civil servants, and ordinary people. Thoroughly accessible to reade=
rs of all backgrounds, A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives is a "must-ha= ve" for both personal and public library collections. It should be noted fo=
r personal reading lists that A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives is als=
o available in a Kindle edition ($12.99).

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Midwest Book Review
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