Ebook292 pages0 minutes
Bohemians: A Graphic History
By Verso US
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
2.5/5
()
About this ebook
The countercultures that came to define bohemia spanned the Atlantic, encompassing Walt Whitman's Brooklyn and the Folies Berg re of Josephine Baker, Gertrude Stein's salons and the Manhattan clubs where Dizzy Gillespie made his name. Edited by Paul Buhle and David Berger, Bohemians is the graphic history of this movement and its illustrious figures. The stories collected here revisit the utopian ideas behind millennial communities, the rise of Greenwich Village and Harlem, the multiracial and radical jazz and dance worlds, and the West Coast, Southern, and Midwest bohemias of America, among other radical scenes.
Drawn by an all-star cast of comic artists, Bohemians is a broad and entertaining account of the rebel impulse in American cultural history. Featuring work by Spain Rodriguez, Sharon Rudahl, Peter Kuper, Sabrina Jones, David Lasky, Afua Richardson, Lance Tooks, Milton Knight, and more.
The ebook edition is expanded from the paperback edition, and includes additional chapters on the swing music scene, La Boheme and midwest bohemians, as well as expanded material on the Greenwich Village intellectuals, Walt Whitman and Harlem jazz club Minton's Playhouse.
Drawn by an all-star cast of comic artists, Bohemians is a broad and entertaining account of the rebel impulse in American cultural history. Featuring work by Spain Rodriguez, Sharon Rudahl, Peter Kuper, Sabrina Jones, David Lasky, Afua Richardson, Lance Tooks, Milton Knight, and more.
The ebook edition is expanded from the paperback edition, and includes additional chapters on the swing music scene, La Boheme and midwest bohemians, as well as expanded material on the Greenwich Village intellectuals, Walt Whitman and Harlem jazz club Minton's Playhouse.
Related to Bohemians
Related ebooks
Bohemians: A Graphic History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On The Books: A Graphic Tale of Working Woes at NYC's Strand Bookstore Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5perpetual Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Face of Struggle: An Allegory Without Words Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlpha: Abidjan to Paris Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Graphic Novels as Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJane Austen: Her Heart Did Whisper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMay Day: A Graphic History of Protest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masks of Anarchy: The History of a Radical Poem, from Percy Shelley to the Triangle Factory Fire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never Tell Anyone Your Name Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dream Rooms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColonial Comics: New England: 1620 - 1750 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lulu Anew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Octopus Pie Vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Odd Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Utopia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kyle Theory: 'Funny and furious' Sara Pascoe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of the Graphic Memoir: Tell Your Story, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sister BFFs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeth: Conversations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAutobiographical Comics: Life Writing in Pictures Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Books Promiscuously Read: Reading as a Way of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A History of Amnesia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Learners: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5German Calendar, No December Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Comics & Graphic Novels For You
I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gender Queer: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monstress Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invincible Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paper Girls Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery": The Authorized Graphic Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wash Day Diaries Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Storm Front Vol. 2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Stranger in the Lifeboat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saga Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shape of Ideas: An Illustrated Exploration of Creativity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowie: An Illustrated Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight (2nd Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaga Vol. 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Economix: How and Why Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Christmas Carol (Illustrated Edition): In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Quiet on the Western Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Garbage Pail Kids Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Criminals Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lesbian Zombies From Outer Space: Issue 1 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pierce Brown’s Red Rising: Sons of Ares Vol. 3: Forbidden Song Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Casual Day Has Gone Too Far: A Dilbert Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Bohemians
Rating: 2.45 out of 5 stars
2.5/5
10 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Sucked hard.Received via NetGalley.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bohemian as defined by the Oxford dictionary: "a socially unconventional person, especially one who is involved in the arts". This is a non-fiction graphic anthology that tells the history of "bohemianism" from the 1840s to the 1950s/early 60s stopping just prior to the "Beat Generation". Each chapter is written and/or illustrated by a different author/artist making for a varied reading experience. The book is hard for me to rate as I will relate. However, I did enjoy the book very much as an historical and biographical text of a certain type of artist during this time period. I'm well-read in Victorian and pre-WWII history so found the first part of this book familiar territory for me and mostly what I had expected from the book. Stories of the artistic type (writers, dancers, artists, poets, etc and those who supported them) that defies social conventions, gathers in salons, talks about current events with disapproval, is involved in scandal, lives without moderation and is sexually promiscuous. The book concentrates on the American scene and in this part of the book we are first introduced to Bohemian origins in artisan Paris, then move to the New World with Julia Branch, Ada Clare, Walt Whitman, Victorian suffragists with artistic bents, Gertrude Stein et al. and Oscar Wilde. This is all in keeping with the subject of the book and the Bohemian becomes recognized as someone who agonizes and suffers over their art, is sexually permissive and deviant mostly involving multiple lovers of either sex, adultery and sexual relations outside of marriage. It is also quite plain from the beginning of the text that the author is very left wing as he blatantly speaks as though being anti-Communist is a *bad* thing (?!) It is then at this point where I found the book frustrating, though I still enjoyed the material, found the historical information interesting and learned a lot of new things personally. However, the editors seem to have lost touch with the topic as the next section is all about Communists and Communist sympathizers who were artists. Does being an ultra left-wing artist make you Bohemian? Then the last part of the book is about African-American artists (mostly musicians and dancers) who of course were engaged in the Civil Rights movement. Was it socially unconventional for a black person to be fighting for civil rights? I would suggest not. I expected to find Josephine Baker here, rightly so, but Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Langston Hughes? So two of them were either bi. or *may* have been gay; they didn't lead flamboyant, promiscuous lifestyles. Does simply being black, an artist and possibly a closeted gay make you Bohemian. Again, referring back to Oxford's definition I think not. So in the end, I enjoyed the book as a strangely unconnected history. The information was entertaining and interesting; the comic art was well done and I knew several of the illustrators involved (Milton Knight, Lance Tooks, Matt Howarth, etc) but the editors failed to provide a clear understanding of Bohemians and prove it with specific examples.
Book preview
Bohemians - Verso US
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1