Palestine

Prior to Safe Area Gorazde: The War In Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 -- Joe Sacco's breakthrough novel of graphic journalism published earlier this year -- the acclaimed author was best known for Palestine, a two-volume graphic novel that won an American Book Award in 1996. Fantagraphics Books is pleased to present, for the first time, a single-volume collection of this 288-page landmark of journalism and the artform of comics. Out of print since the wildly successful debut of Safe Area Gorazde, demand for Palestine should never be higher than with the release of this edition.

Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews), Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, whose name has since become synonymous with this graphic form of New Journalism. Like Safe Area Gorazde, Palestine has been favorably compared to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, by Art Spiegelman, for its ability to brilliantly navigate such socially and politically-sensitive subject matter within the confines of the comic book medium. Sacco has often been called the first comic book journalist, and he is certainly the best.

Sacco's insightful reportage takes place at the front lines, where busy marketplaces are spoiled by shootings and tear gas, soldiers beat civilians with reckless abandon, and roadblocks go up before reporters can leave. Sacco interviewed and encountered prisoners, refugees, protesters, wounded children, farmers who had lost their land, and families who had been torn apart by the Palestinian conflict

In 1996, the Before Columbus Foundation awarded Palestine the seventeenth annual American Book Award, a prestigious rarity for something told in comic book form that rightfully recognized Sacco's unique talents as both a journalist and cartoonist, stating that the author should be recognized for his "outstanding contribution to American literature," while his publisher, Fantagraphics, is "to be honored for their commitment to quality and their willingness to take risks that accompany publishing outstanding books and authors that may not prove 'cost-effective' in the short run."

This new edition of Palestine also features a new introduction from renowned author, critic, and historian Edward Said (Peace and