Book cover of Comics and Nation: Power, Pop Culture, and Political Transformation in Poland

Book description

Winner, 2023 Comics Studies Society Charles Hatfield Book Prize

Comics and Nation offers a fresh perspective on the role of popular culture in the one-hundred-year history of the Polish state, from its foundation in 1918 to the present. Drawing on dozens of press articles, interviews, and readers’ letters, Ewa Stańczyk…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Comics and Nation as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Given the title I selected for this list, including this book was a bit of a cheat since it addresses Poland through most of the twentieth century. But, in many ways, I wish I had written this book or one like it. 

Stańczyk brilliantly narrates the history of modern Poland through the lens of comic books. Across the political transformations of the Polish state since its re-formation after the First World War, Stańczyk discusses the state’s approach to imported Western comics and translation, the development of a domestic comic book industry, and the post-communist boom in Japanese manga to dissect…

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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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