Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War

By Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Ari Kelman

Featuring breathtaking panoramas and revelatory, unforgettable images, Battle Lines is an utterly original graphic history of the Civil War.

A collaboration between the award-winning historian Ari Kelman and the acclaimed graphic novelist Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Battle Lines showcases various objects from the conflict (a tattered American flag from Fort Sumter, a pair of opera glasses, a bullet, an inkwell, and more), along with a cast of soldiers, farmers, slaves, and well-known figures, to trace an ambitious narrative that extends from the early rumblings of secession to the dark years of Reconstruction. Employing a bold graphic form to illuminate the complex history of this period, Kelman and Fetter-Vorm take the reader from the barren farms of the home front all the way to the front lines of an infantry charge.

A daring presentation of the war that nearly tore America apart, Battle Lines is a monumental achievement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jan 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9780374608040

Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is an author and illustrator. His Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb was selected by the American Library Association as a Best Graphic Novel for Teens in 2013. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Reviews for Battle Lines

[darthdeverell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War, Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Ari Kelman examine the American Civil War through various vignettes in order to examine its impact on technology, the vote, soldiers, the war's role in mass culture through photography, the draft, memory, and more. Fetter-Vorm's stylized art successfully brings home the grime and gore of the conflict, stripping it of the nobility with which aficionados would imbue it, while Kelman's writing poignantly humanizes the conflict, shifting the focus from Lincoln, Grant, Davis, and Lee to the average people from all walks of life on both sides of the conflict. While such an undertaking necessarily offers a limited approach, the authors include a suggested reading section. For high school or early college students looking for an understanding of the Civil War, Battle Lines offers a unique insight beyond the standard textbook or monograph.

[witchyrichy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A sometimes tough graphic novel as it doesn't hold back in terms of violence and the devastating effects of the war on individuals both North and South