{"product_id":"krazy-george-herriman-a-life-in-black-and-white-isbn-9780061732997","title":"Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD FOR BEST COMICS-RELATED BOOK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFINALIST FOR THE NBCC AWARD IN BIOGRAPHY \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFINALIST FOR THE PEN\/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of \u003cem\u003eSchulz and Peanuts\u003c\/em\u003e, an epic and revelatory biography of Krazy Kat creator George Herriman that explores the turbulent time and place from which he emerged—and the deep secret he explored through his art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe creator of the greatest comic strip in history finally gets his due—in an eye-opening biography that lays bare the truth about his art, his heritage, and his life on America’s color line. A native of nineteenth-century New Orleans, George Herriman came of age as an illustrator, journalist, and cartoonist in the boomtown of Los Angeles and the wild metropolis of New York. Appearing in the biggest newspapers of the early twentieth century—including those owned by William Randolph Hearst—Herriman’s Krazy Kat cartoons quickly propelled him to fame. Although fitfully popular with readers of the period, his work has been widely credited with elevating cartoons from daily amusements to anarchic art. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHerriman used his work to explore the human condition, creating a modernist fantasia that was inspired by the landscapes he discovered in his travels—from chaotic urban life to the Beckett-like desert vistas of the Southwest. Yet underlying his own life—and often emerging from the contours of his very public art—was a very private secret: known as \"the Greek\" for his swarthy complexion and curly hair, Herriman was actually African American, born to a prominent Creole family that hid its racial identity in the dangerous days of Reconstruction. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on exhaustive original research into Herriman’s family history, interviews with surviving friends and family, and deep analysis of the artist’s work and surviving written records, Michael Tisserand brings this little-understood figure to vivid life, paying homage to a visionary artist who helped shape modern culture. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eIn this epic and revelatory biography of \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat\u003c\/em\u003e creator George Herriman, the man behind one of the greatest comic strips in history finally gets his due. An eye-opening, finely wrought portrait of a life, \u003cem\u003eKrazy\u003c\/em\u003e re-creates the turbulent time and place from which Herriman emerged—and uncovers the secrets he explored through his art. Michael Tisserand celebrates Herriman’s wondrous comics while delving deep into the life of a cartoonist on America’s color line. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA native of nineteenth-century New Orleans, George Herriman came of age as a cartoonist in the boomtown of Los Angeles and the wild metropolis of New York. Appearing in the biggest newspapers of the early twentieth century—including those owned by William Randolph Hearst—Herriman’s \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat \u003c\/em\u003ecartoons quickly propelled him to fame. Although it would prove fitfully popular with readers of the period, his work has been widely credited with elevating cartoons from daily amusements to anarchic art. For this reason, cartoonists from Charles M. Schulz to Bill Watterson have named him as a primary influence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHerriman used his work to explore the human condition, creating a modernist fantasia that was inspired by the landscapes he discovered in his travels—from the slapstick movie lots of young Hollywood to the Beckett-like desert vistas of the Southwest. Yet underlying his own life—and often emerging from the contours of his very public art—was a very private secret: known as “the Greek” for his swarthy complexion and curly hair, Herriman was actually African American, born to a prominent Creole family that hid its racial identity in the dangerous days of Reconstruction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on exhaustive original research into Herriman’s family history, interviews with surviving friends and family, and deep analysis of the artist’s work and written records, Tisserand brings this little-understood figure to vivid life, paying homage to a visionary artist who helped shape modern culture.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“It’s one of the best true stories told in 2016.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tisserand presents a well-researched, engaging biography of George Herriman (1880-1944), creator of the comic strip \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat\u003c\/em\u003e.... At every step, this work brilliantly re-creates the milieu of its subject’s life by shading in the historical context. A significant book for comics scholars and those interested in tracing Herriman’s development from novice to master of the medium.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePaul Steins, Library Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eKrazy\u003c\/em\u003e, so rich in anecdote and so warm in affection, succeeds in adding a good deal to the wonder of George Herriman’s legacy – mainly by putting the artist in last place on Earth he liked to be: in the spotlight, center stage.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps no one in his field is as deserving of a top-notch, in-depth biography as Herriman. And with Michael Tisserand’s \u003cem\u003eKrazy\u003c\/em\u003e we now have a most valuable, studiously researched, and, indeed, definitive profile of the man that does him full justice.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePrint\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“... engaging, revealing…. Herriman’s adventures in newspapering in the early years of the 20th century are alone worth the price of the book.... Whether you’re a longtime \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat \u003c\/em\u003efan, as I am, or a new acquaintance, this biography will enrich your knowledge of the Kat and its creator.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTampa Bay Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“... one of the year’s best biographies.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“One of the many virtues of Michael Tisserand’s richly illustrated biography of George Herriman, the creator of “Krazy Kat,” is its evocation of the early 20th-century newspaper world from which it sprang.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An absorbing study of a genius with a secret.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Orleans Times-Picayune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Rich in original research, New Orleans writer Tisserand’s encyclopedia biography of \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat\u003c\/em\u003e artist George Herriman is also an enlightening history of modern comic strips.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Who was the man behind “Krazy Kat”? This fascinating biography and guide to the work of the cartoonist, who passed for white, tells the full story.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Herriman’s delight in anarchic transformation and gentle subversion had personal roots, as Michael Tisserand reveals in this scrupulously researched, luminously written and eye-opening biography.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tisserand … has written the rarest kind of book: scholarship that is accessible and captivating, genuinely fun to read. His prose sparkles, smooth and flowing, rich with metaphor and invention.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“George Herriman was a poet in a new visual language. As a man, he was an enigma to match his greatest creation, the sublime \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat\u003c\/em\u003e. Michael Tisserand has done a masterful job of illuminating this life lived in the shadowy borderlands of racial identity; along the way he also gives a brilliant overview of the golden years of American cartooning. \u003cem\u003eKrazy\u003c\/em\u003e is a monumental work of biography about a true American genius.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTom Piazza\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“For decades I’ve been hoping for a new, experimental African-American voice to emerge in the language of comics, but Michael Tisserand’s \u003cem\u003eKrazy\u003c\/em\u003e draws back the curtain on the one who’s been with us all along. A true archeological dig through the details of George Herriman’s Creole origins and the racial bigotry his family faced in Louisiana before reinventing themselves in California as white, \u003cem\u003eKrazy\u003c\/em\u003e reconnects the leads of the greatest comic strip ever to its tragic source, illuminating not only its poetic complexities, but also allowing it to burn as brightly as all of the great art of the twentieth century. Tisserand’s irresistible, rollicking re-creation of the insane world of early newspapering, the unsettled West, and especially our unsettling country proves George Herriman’s individual lyrical voice—an equal, I think, of Baldwin’s, Ellison’s, and Angelou’s—was really asking the saddest single question of all: Why do they hate us so much?” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChris Ware\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A fascinating biography and guide to the work of the cartoonist, who passed for white.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A visionary strip. Who drew it, and wherefrom? Tisserand’s robust research illuminates, without diminishing, the mystery.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRoy Blount Jr.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is a gripping read at the intersection of pop culture and American history.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublisher's Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Essential reading for comics fans and history buffs, Krazy is a roaring success, providing an indispensable new perspective on turn-of-the-century America.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus (starred)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Michael Tisserand’s lovingly baked brick of a biography is essential for every comics and art lover’s library. \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat\u003c\/em\u003e was highly acclaimed as a work of art generations before almost anyone—Herriman included!—thought of putting ‘comics’ and ‘art’ meaningfully into the same sentence. But beyond this book’s obvious urgency for comics lovers, Tisserand conscientiously explores the enigmatic traces of a great artist’s life hidden in plain sight. He follows the diffident and elusive Herriman’s journey through thickly crosshatched surrealist mesas right into the heart of America’s darkness-the color line that shaped and looped through all of \u003cem\u003eKrazy Kat’s\u003c\/em\u003e other lines to intersect with so much of America’s culture. Zip! Pow!” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eArt Spiegelman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An athletic feat of scholarship and an effort of love—like one of Ignatz’s bricks to the head. Tisserand’s immaculately researched and super-readable biography captures the madcap modernist Herriman and the weird America of surreal racial realities and publishing superpowers that shaped his revolutionary art.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHillary Chute\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888635179237,"sku":"NP9780061732997","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061732997.jpg?v=1730229495","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/krazy-george-herriman-a-life-in-black-and-white-isbn-9780061732997","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}