Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War

I was putting together broad categories for how to instruct my family of boys on aspects of the civil war. Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Ari Kelman read my mind. From captive blacks to reconstruction and the rise of the Klan terrorists, this book does it all. I don't need to instruct - this book paints vivid pictures for my kids to absorb, relate to, and build on according to their areas of interest. My other resources come into play, but this book is the Civil War overview I had been trying to create myself. Includes disease (malaria, gangrene) and Andersonville prison, suspension of habeus corpus and desertions, Mathew Brady's photographs, hunger on the homefront, desertions, the assassination of Lincoln, more. Marvellous. I can't say enough about the quality of the graphics and narration in the book. This is graphic history as it should be done. Bravo to the authors and publishers from not shying away from the cold truths. Lincoln's presidency was ambiguous on Constitutional questions. James K. Polk was a racist SOB, like most democrats. The KKK was/is the terror arm of the democrats. Great book for Junior High and up. I can't recommend it strongly enough. You probably need one for every child in your family, because they will not want to share. More books like this, please.

This book is simply superb! This is storytelling at its finest. The illustrations pull you deeper into the personal history of historic events, and they manage to fool your senses into believing you might actually be there. My eyes lingered on them, and I found myself flipping back to previous panels to review them for subtleties I missed the first time. I teach middle school history, and I've been yearning for a book that would dare to cover the scope and breadth of the American Civil War. The authors have written a page turning graphic novel that will appeal to all ages, and will grip even those with a brief knowledge of U.S. history. This should be on the reading list of every American history class, and in the library of every school in the country. The history is first rate.

Love this book! Super entertaining. It doesnt provide a detailed account of yhe events of the American Civil War, but it gives you the important parts of the war and illustrates them. Really great to read. I needed it for a class and I could have borrowed it from a friend, but I found it here for a great price and I don't regret buying it.

Battle Lines is one of the best books I've read, in any genre, in a long time. It's beautiful, evocative, and sharply written. The stories it tells are layered and complex, but presented in an engaging way. You can read it in one sitting or enjoy the nuances and details of the images and words more slowly. Either way, it's well worth it.

Brilliant graphic and textual overview of an incredibly massive and complex story. By zeroing in on specific moments and symbols, the whole becomes approachable and deeply affecting. Highly recommended for students (middle school through college) and anyone else motivated to gain a better understanding of one of our nation's darkest times.

A beautiful and affecting book. The civil war is, at least to me, deeply familiar, but this book focuses on the personal, and conveys with a painful immediacy the ways that the horror of this conflict infiltrated and transformed the day-to-day existence of our not-so-distant ancestors. I was struck as I have never been before by the degree to which the appalling, unprecedented violence of the conflict was "just around the corner" for familiar and modern-seeming Americans.

I have started using this in my US history survey class (along with our traditional textbook and primary sources) and my students LOVE it. Although it's not perfect, it's a great complement to other sources and offers a terrific way to talk about alternate ways to interpret history. In addition, my 11 and 14 year old sons have also read it and enjoyed it, so it's accessible for a broad range of ages. And, as my students note in their final papers, it's fun to read, and how often do gen ed students say that at the end of the semester?

Book was as described

Notevole. Non sono esperto, ma mi pare un ottimo lavoro.

Beautiful and impactful. Truly a must have for any civil war buff.