![]() ![]() a superb accomplishment on every level, and a book that every American needs to read. The stories depicted in Wake are difficult ones–Hall reflects on the trauma that historians of the period often experience while studying it–and yet laying these truths bare, telling these stories with such pride and power produces a deeply inspirational effect. A Best Book of 2021 by NPR and The Washington Post Part graphic novel, part memoir, Wake is an imaginative tour-de-force that tells the powerful (The New York Times Book Review) story of women-led slave revolts and chronicles scholar Rebecca Hall’s efforts to uncover the truth about these women warriors who, until now, have been left out of the historical record. She puts flesh on the bones of history, bringing stilted historical legal language to life with narratives that are stirring, emotional, inspiring. Given the paucity of historical data (although she has meticulously extricated a remarkable amount of it, despite being denied access to key records by the present-day corporations borne from slave-profits), Hall gives life to history by alternating narrated accounts of the facts-as-we-know-them, with passages reconstructing how the stories may have played out. The graphic novel format lends itself exceptionally well to conveying this intersection of past and present, enabling readers to see it visualized on the page. ![]() Wake utilizes visuals–illustrated by comics artist Hugo Martinez–to full effect, and it behooves the reader to spend time studying what goes on in the background. ![]() ![]() In telling these stories about which there are often gaps in the written record, the graphic component of the book becomes all the more important. Far from playing a marginal role, Hall’s work reveals women who were at the heart of organizing and leading revolts across the vast and pernicious expanse of the slave trade. ![]()
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