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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 902.07 EAN: 9780393324037 ISBN: 0393324036 Label: W. W. Norton & Company Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 300 Publication Date: October 21, 2002 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Studio: W. W. Norton & Company Editorial Review: Product Description: An irreverent survey in comics spanning world history from the birth of Islam to the Byzantine Empire to the Italian Renaissance. Larry Gonick's celebrated series The Cartoon History of the Universe is a unique fusion of world history and the comics medium, a work of serious scholarship and a masterpiece of popular literature. Praised by historians as a narrative and interpretive tour de force, Gonick's clever illustrations deliver important information with a deceptively light tone, teaching us about the people and events that have shaped our world. This long-awaited new volume covers the Middle Ages around the globe, including the origin and spread of Islam; West Africa and the cross-Saharan trade; Central Asia and the Byzantine Empire; the European Dark Ages and the Crusades; the Mongol conquests; the Black Death; the Ottoman Empire; the Italian Renaissance; and the rise of Spain, leading up to Columbus's departure for the New World. Highlighting key events and retrieving oft-neglected historical connections, Gonick offers an historical survey that is at once multicultural, humanistic, skeptical, and laugh-out-loud funny. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - The educational comic: oxymoron no more!!Comics, an almost ancient medium, somehow endure in our digital era of short attention spans. After all, they do involve reading, an anathema in our instantaneous age. Nonetheless, comics seem to peacefully coexist with the burgeoning gaming community. Almost every decent sized city has at least one comic/gaming shop overflowing with action figures, busts of the superheroes of modern mythology, gaming modules, transcendent dice as varied as snowflakes, terrifying fantasy weapons, and walls upon walls ... Read More Rating:  - Fun and Brilliant at the Same Time - Great for the History BuffI first discovered the first two volumes of Gonick's "Cartoon History of the Universe" while in middle school, and have been a fan ever since. His unique mix of "underground"-style black and white comics illustration with exceptionally researched, erudite and entertaining explanations of the often complex nature of world history, is refreshing and worthy of a look form anyone interested in history from the novice to the expert. Vol. 3 begins with a history of the Middle East and its rise ... Read More Rating:  - Leaves out important information for comic effectNo-one can seriously expect to learn accurate history from a comic book that deals with so much material. However, I was quite disappointed to find that facts appear to have been selectively left out to produce a rationalized yet absurdist view of the universe to get laughs. I admit, I laughed in many places, except where the history was actually important to know with precision. Considering the increasing importance of history in the 21st century, this comedy may come at a price, particularly when this ... Read More Rating: - There is only one thing wrong--There is only one thing wrong with "The Cartoon History Of The Universe". Each volume has a 7 to 10 year wait between them! However, they ARE excellent. A fine, well-researched history, presented in a fun graphic style. Rating: - Another goodieHistory textbooks have notoriously been dreary articles that students have to slog through, often with their noses held tightly. Larry Gonick is the cure. His three volumes of the Cartoon History of the Universe has it all--historical accuracy, depth, breadth and humor. The cartoons are hilarious in themselves but they convey a deeper purpose, to show the sweep of history and the complexity of it. I think every high school World History teacher should use the series as texts and as the only ... Read More |
