The Great War: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme (An Illustrated Panorama) - Softcover

Sacco, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224097717 ISBN 13: 9780224097710

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2013

Synopsis

AN ILLUSTRATED PANORAMA WITH AN ESSAY BY ADAM HOCHSCHILD

The first day of the Battle of the Somme has come to epitomise the Great War. This monumental panorama captures the unimaginable horrors of that fateful day.

On 1st July 1916, almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed and another 40,000 were wounded during the first day of The Somme. In The Great War, acclaimed cartoonist Joe Sacco depicts the events of that day in an extraordinary, 24-foot-long wordless panorama: from British soldiers going ‘over the top’ and being cut down in No-Man’s-Land, to the tens of thousands of wounded soldiers retreating and the dead being buried en masse.

Printed on fine accordion-fold paper and packaged in a deluxe hardcover slipcase with a 16-page accompanying booklet, The Great War makes visceral one of the bloodiest days in history.

‘This is incredible. It is fantastic. He’s showing you far more than a film or photographs could. It’s just drawing ? it’s a superb example of what art can do.’ David Hockney, Sunday Times

‘Sacco’s work [is] the best argument around for comics as a journalistic medium’ GQ

About this title

About the Author

Joe Sacco, one of the world's greatest cartoonists, is widely hailed as the creator of war reportage comics. He is the author of, among other books, Palestine, which received the American Book Award, and Safe Area: Goražde, which won the Eisner Award and was named a New York Times notable book and Time magazine's best comic book of 2000. His books have been translated into fourteen languages and his comics reporting has appeared in Details, The New York Times Magazine, Time, Harper's and the Guardian. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

From the Back Cover

The Great War July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme. It is an illustrated panorama with an essay by Adam Hochschild. "Sacco's work [is] the best argument around for comics as a journalistic medium". (GQ). Launched on July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme has come to epitomize the madness of the First World War. Almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed and another 40,000 were wounded that first day, and there were more than one million casualties by the time the offensive halted a few months later. In The Great War, acclaimed cartoonist Joe Sacco depicts the events of that day in an extraordinary, 24-foot-long wordless panorama: from the riding exercises of General Douglas Haig to the massive artillery positions and marshalling areas behind the trench lines, to the legions of British soldiers going 'over the top' and being cut down in No-Man's-Land, to the tens of thousands of wounded soldiers retreating and the dead being buried en masse. Printed on fine accordion-fold paper and packaged in a deluxe hardcover slipcase with a 16-page accompanying booklet, The Great War is a landmark work in Sacco's illustrious career, and makes visceral one of the bloodiest days in history.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224097717
• ISBN 13: 9780224097710
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 56