Author: Josh Trujillo & Levi Hastings
Genre: Nonfiction / Graphic Novel
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
Okay, honestly the cover and the title are what pulled me into this one. How do you not click on this book to see what's it about? Up until last week, I knew nothing about Baron von Steuben. If he was mentioned at all during my history classes, it was a footnote that was easily forgotten. And, what better way to learn history than through a graphic novel. Especially one done in the soft blue palette of color this one was drawn in.
I will say I love that this isn't just the history of Barn von Steuben. At the core, he's who this graphic novel is about. But, it also spans a lot of Queer history, as well as talking about the author's own experiences. I also really like the honesty that Trujillo inserts from the very start of this book. Both he and Hastings have done their best to retrace the life of Baron von Steuben, but there's only so much you can learn from journals and letters.
And the author is right, the 1700s were a completely different world than the one we live in now. People lived a completely different way to what we're used to. Their normal isn't ours and it's hard to connect all the dots correctly. But, I feel like these guys did the best they could with what information they could find.
I feel like they told the story of Baron von Steuben's life the best they could, in a way that was easy to read and understand and didn't feel like a history lecture. We don't just learn American history but a bit about Stueben's own country of Prussia. So there is a lot of information packed into just under 200 pages.
As mentioned before I loved the soft color palette they chose for this graphic novel as well. I think it works well in the narrative. It's not depressing, but not really happy either. Baron von Steuben lived a wonderfully strange, and yet somehow very sad life. I felt like the color choices worked perfectly.
While not a very uplifting story, it's an interesting one.
HAPPY READING!!
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