Bernie (Graphic Non Fiction) - Softcover

Ted Rall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1609806980 ISBN 13: 9781609806989

Publisher: Seven Stories Press, 2020

Synopsis

Bernie Sanders puzzles the establishment. A self-identified socialist, long affiliated with neither the Democratic no Republican parties, from the tiny state of Vermont, Sanders has been relentlessly marginalized and ridiculed by the national political power brokers and the media that supports them.

And yet here he is, barely a month into his campaign against the inevitable Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he is already posting a credible threat to her in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two first, very important, primary contests. Not to mention he s doing it on a shoestring budget.

Who is Bernie Sanders? What accounts for his seemingly overnight rise from marginal figure to national player?

The Sanders story is about the credibility that, ironically, derives from years of marginalization. As progressives and liberals who once formed the base of the Democratic Party look for an alternative to Clinton s corporate-friendly, war-mongering policies, Sanders is perfectly positioned to step into the vacuum.

Ted Rall s BERNIE explores the personal and political development of a man who threatens to shake up the 2016 presidential campaign, redefine the left wing of the Democratic Party, and, win or lose, set a new benchmark for a revived progressivism within a party that has rejected it for half a century.

About this title

Review:

"Rall's illustrated work, in the same format as his acclaimed Snowden, is an illuminating, clear-headed, straight-shooting argument on why American voters should support and elect Senator Bernie Sanders to president. The first few chapters are an enlightening mini-course in contemporary American government and economics, tracing the Democratic Party's persistent movement to the right over the past several decades. Sanders, Rall argues, is the only candidate whose passions and commitments favor the American people rather than corporations or big government. Each page is half text and half illustration in Rall's signature caricature style, a format that serves up a large amount of information at an easy-to-digest pace of one idea per page. Unlike the Snowden book, this could have a potential short shelf life if Sanders isn't nominated or elected. But in the months leading up to the Democratic Convention, this is an essential survey and solid political ammunition for Sanders supporters, with appeal to politically minded readers."--Publishers Weekly

"More than a campaign biography, this graphic narrative traces the decline and possible resurgence of liberalism within the Democratic Party.... An effective, if unapologetically partisan, primer on a strong voice from the left to counter the Democrats' rightward shift." --Kirkus Reviews

"What sets this book apart is not that it's a cartoon, but that it's an argument for placing Bernie Sanders in a particular position in U.S. history, namely as the restoration of liberalism to a Democratic Party that hasn't seen it since the McGovern campaign. In fact, a huge chunk of the book is not about Bernie at all, but is a history of the rightward drifting of the Democratic Party over the decades. Another big chunk is a history of Bernie's childhood and career. Both of these sections are well done." --davidswanson.org

About the Author:

Twice the winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Ted Rall is a political cartoonist, opinion columnist, graphic novelist and occasional war correspondent whose work has appeared in hundreds of publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Village Voice and the Los Angeles Times. He is the illustrator of the full-length comic in Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps (Seven Stories Press, 2012), written by Greg Palast, and the author and illustrator of the graphic biography, Snowden (Seven Stories Press, 2015, also available).

About this edition

• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1609806980
• ISBN 13: 9781609806989
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192