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The Golem's Mighty Swing

The Golem's Mighty Swing

Current price: $16.95
Publication Date: May 16th, 2017
Publisher:
Drawn and Quarterly
ISBN:
9781770462830
Pages:
112

Description

A new edition of the classic tale of a barnstorming Jewish baseball team during the great depression

Before penning his acclaimed graphic novel Market Day and founding the Center for Cartoon Studies, James Sturm proved his worth as a master cartoonist with the eloquent graphic novel, The Golem’s Mighty Swing, one of the first breakout graphic novel hits of the twenty-first century. Sturm’s fascination with the invisible America has been the crux of his comics work, exploring the rarely-told or oft-forgotten bits of history that define a country.

By reuniting America’s greatest pastime with its hidden history, the graphic novel tells the story of the Stars of David, a barnstorming Jewish baseball team of the depression era. Led by its manager and third baseman, the nomadic team travels from small town to small town providing the thrill of the sport while playing up their religious exoticism as a curio for people to gawk at, heckle, and taunt.

When the team’s fortunes fall, the players are presented a plan to get people in the stands. But by placing their fortunes in the hands of a promoter, the Stars of David find themselves fanning the flames of ethnic tensions. Sturm’s nuanced composition is on full display as he deftly builds the climax of the game against the rising anti-semitic fervor of the crowd. Baseball, small towns, racial tensions, and the desperate grasp for the American Dream: The Golem’s Mighty Swing is a classic American novel.

About the Author

James Sturm is the author of several award-winning graphic novels for children and adults, including James Sturm’s America, Market Day, The Golem’s Mighty Swing and Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow. He is also the founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies and the National Association for Comics Art Educators.  He created Adventures in Cartooning with collaborators Alexis Frederic-Frost and Andrew Arnold. Sturm, his wife, and two daughters live in White River Junction, Vermont.

Praise for The Golem's Mighty Swing

“Sturm’s prose is as elegantly understated as his line work.” —Entertainment Weekly

“[Golem’s Mighty Swing] ties together sport, art and literature into a grand-slam comic book.” —Time

“Employing thick lines, minimal detail and simple prose . . . Sturm gracefully summons the seedy, often dangerous baseball world of the 1920s.” —Washington Post