Customer Reviews

Lives of Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd

5 star:		(2)
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One does not usually associate the comic form with serious topics, but Joe Sacco draws pictures that are often worth more than the proverbial thousand words. He combines solid historical analysis with a distinctly human view of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. While he clearly is sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians and devotes some of his most dramatic pages to the alleged brutal methods used by Israeli security forces, he also casts his sharp eye at some of the issues that divide the Palestinian community. What Sacco's work provides is a gritty feel and insight into life in towns and villages that flit across our TV screens on the evening news but are no more than names quickly forgotten. Sacco makes them live. His images and his personal voyage of discovery takes us through the back alleys of refugee camps, through security check-points, and into places that most will never see or understand. It is no wonder that several universities in America have asked Sacco to lecture on Middle Eastern politics.

I found "Palestine a Nation Occupied" (Vol.1) and (Vol. 2) in my public library by accident. I checked it out and it sat on the shelve for weeks before I actually opened it. I was blown away. I have been reading comics forever, but I have never seen the medium used as effectively as Joe Sacco uses it in these two volumes. He covers the Palestinian struggle and suffering in a way that puts you in the heart of the conflict. I have heard story after story of what really happens in Palestine and the cruelty of the Israeli Occupation, and I have seen those first hand, but with this book, I have seen much more than I was ever exposed to before, and began to understand more about the suffering of others.

This is an excellent read, and like all excellent books that are fair to the Palestinian conflict and people, it is out of print.
Recently, however, both volumes were combined into one book "Palestine" and it is in bookstores and on Amazon. I highly recommend this book.

I'd give more than 5 starts if possible.