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List Price: $19.95Amazon.com's Price: $13.57 You Save: $6.38 (32%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Board book
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780375423079
ISBN: 0375423079
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 42
Publication Date: September 07, 2004
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: September 07, 2004
Sales Rank: 43209
Studio: Pantheon
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
For Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were both highly personal and intensely political. In the Shadow of No Towers, his first new book of comics since the groundbreaking Maus, is a masterful and moving account of the events and aftermath of that tragic day.
Spiegelman and his family bore witness to the attacks in their lower Manhattan neighborhood: his teenage daughter had started school directly below the towers days earlier, and they had lived in the area for years. But the horrors they survived that morning were only the beginning for Spiegelman, as his anguish was quickly displaced by fury at the U.S. government, which shamelessly co-opted the events for its own preconceived agenda.
He responded in the way he knows best. In an oversized, two-page-spread format that echoes the scale of the earliest newspaper comics (which Spiegelman says brought him solace after the attacks), he relates his experience of the national tragedy in drawings and text that convey—with his singular artistry and his characteristic provocation, outrage, and wit—the unfathomable enormity of the event itself, the obvious and insidious effects it had on his life, and the extraordinary, often hidden changes that have been enacted in the name of post-9/11 national security and that have begun to undermine the very foundation of American democracy.
Amazon.com Review:
Catastrophic, world-altering events like the September 11 attacks on the United States place the millions of us who experience them on the 'fault line where World History and Personal History collide.' Most of us, however, cannot document that intersection with the force, compression, and poignancy expressed in Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers. As in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, cartoonist Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary of his experience of September 11 and its aftermath. In 10 large-scale pages of original, hard hitting material (composed from September 11, 2001 to August 31, 2003), two essays, and 10 old comic strip reproductions from the early 20th century, Spiegelman expresses his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks---and the subsequent 'hijacking' of the event by the Bush administration to serve what he believes is a misguided and immoral political agenda. Readers who agree with Spiegelman's point of view will marvel at the brilliance of his images and the wit and accuracy of his commentary. Others, no doubt, will be jolted by his candor and, perhaps, be challenged to reexamine their position.
The central image in the sequence of original broadsides, which returns as a leitmotif in each strip, is Spiegelman's Impressionistic 'vision of disintegration,' of the North Tower, its 'glowing bones...just before it vaporized.' (As downtown New Yorkers, Spiegelman and his family experienced the event firsthand.) But the images and styles in the book are as fragmentary and ever-shifting as Spiegelman's reflections and reactions. The author's closing comment that 'The towers have come to loom far larger than life...but they seem to get smaller every day' reflects a larger and more chilling irony that permeates In the Shadow of No Towers. Despite the ephemeral nature of the comic strip form, the old comics at the back of the book have outlasted the seemingly indestructible towers. In the same way, Spiegelman's heartfelt impressions have immortalized the towers that, imponderably, have now vanished. --Silvana Tropea
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - expectations were too high
After reading Maus i loved it and it caused my expecatations for this book to be too high.
Rating:  - A great way to understand a tormented artst...
I used "In the Shadow" as a segment in a group project for an undergrad presentation on "Maus" to further understand and psycho analyze Spiegelman's mental conflict. While short, the art is dense and the possibilities for analyzation are endless...leaving you with a worthwhile experience. Anyone who is a fan of Spiegelman's work, or anyone who wants to see how Spiegelman uses an event that is in his personal history (not his past generation's) then definitely check out "In the Shadow"...you won't ... Read More
Rating: - Dull
In a small series of comic strips originally designed to be printed as large, two-page newspaper spreads, Spiegelman illustrates his personal experiences of the attack on the World Trade Center. He focuses mainly upon four themes: his concern over the safety of his daughter who was attending a school right near the towers, his growing paranoia over the government, the funny but disturbing display of blind patriotism that arose amongst the US population and media following the tragedy, and, lastly, ... Read More
Rating:  - Not quite what I expected
I thought this would be more of a story of the artist's personal experience & less political. I don't disagree with his politics, but it was still somewhat of a disappointment. Spiegelman's artwork is always amazing, often moving & thought provoking. I was really moved by his quote: "I finally understand why some Jews didn't leave Berlin right after Kristallnacht!" I also enjoyed the section on old political cartoons
Rating: - "I finally understand why some Jews didn't leave Berlin after Kristallnacht"---Art Spiegelman
Before this book, I had never picked up a book on 9/11, being that I assumed they are all so politically biased (be it one extreme or another). There are also so many of them, some released very soon after the attack. It is frustrating to look at the "new books" section of the local library and see ½ the shelves filled with 9/11 books. I couldn't help myself with this curio, however. I am a fan of history and comics. Browsing through the large, thick, colorful cardboard panels of "In the Shadow of ... Read More
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Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780375423079
ISBN: 0375423079
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 42
Publication Date: September 07, 2004
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: September 07, 2004
Sales Rank: 43209
Studio: Pantheon