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k99km06's review
5.0
Amazing, heartbreaking history. The website includes a lot of great background information, as well. https://read.ghostriver.org/
yarnylibrarian's review
5.0
This is a graphic novel about the little-known Paxton massacres of 1763, in which white vigilantes killed Conestoga people near Lancaster, PA. It's based on primary sources held at over a dozen archives, but it also intentionally centers the voices and experiences of Native peoples which archival records so often exclude or diminish. That includes the voices of living Native peoples (as the reference to "and rise of" in the titles implies). The book posits that "Perhaps, like Penn's Treaty, history blends fact and fiction, memory and mythology." The version of history that ends up in the history books blends fact and fiction in a certain way; this book seeks to do so from a different perspective.
I was struck by parallels between the rural/urban dynamic in colonial Pennsylvania as compared to today.
In addition to the graphic novel (which was authored, illustrated, and published by Native people), the volume includes short essays about indigenous representation in comics, colonial pamphlet wars, and the political motivations of the murderers, Ben Franklin, and the Philadelphia Quaker elite. It also lists and describes key primary sources (thousands of which are included on the companion website), reproduces some of the editorial conversation among collaborators, and includes a unit plan for grade 7-12 teachers.
If you like history, digital history, public history, indigenous studies, or graphic novels, I recommend this breathtaking collaboration that is unlike any other book on my shelf. Holding a print copy is a privilege, but the digital edition is freely available to all at https://ghostriver.org.
I was struck by parallels between the rural/urban dynamic in colonial Pennsylvania as compared to today.
In addition to the graphic novel (which was authored, illustrated, and published by Native people), the volume includes short essays about indigenous representation in comics, colonial pamphlet wars, and the political motivations of the murderers, Ben Franklin, and the Philadelphia Quaker elite. It also lists and describes key primary sources (thousands of which are included on the companion website), reproduces some of the editorial conversation among collaborators, and includes a unit plan for grade 7-12 teachers.
If you like history, digital history, public history, indigenous studies, or graphic novels, I recommend this breathtaking collaboration that is unlike any other book on my shelf. Holding a print copy is a privilege, but the digital edition is freely available to all at https://ghostriver.org.
seawarrior's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga is not only a graphic novel, but the result of an exhaustive and collaborative research project undertaken to highlight the perspective and humanity of the Conestoga people with the help of an impressive number of archives, libraries, historians and Indigenous storytellers and community members. The narrative of the Conestoga massacre is told through the eyes of the Conestoga themselves, through the remembrance of their ancestors who remain with us today, and through the experiences of the book's creators as they researched and assessed how this story needed to be told.
Portraying the creators of this graphic novel like characters within it was a wise decision that provides readers with a greater understanding their efforts, both in terms of accuracy and artistry. The full book also includes a variety of supplemental materials, such as introductions and script notes, for this purpose. Francis IV mentions in his script annotations how the time-skips throughout the book are purposefully done to contrast with Western linear narrative structure, as Native stories are often instead "cyclical and contextual". This alternate structure not only frames this historical retelling through a Native understanding, but heightens the emotion of Francis IV and Alvitre's work. Similarly, Alvitre mentions in her introduction how her choice of artistic tools was done to deliberately mimic the style of the political cartoons stemming from the massacre, while instead "reclaim[ing] that period with fresh representational art of the Native Americans who lived and died during this period of history". Her choice of earth tone pigments intends to tie her artwork to the land the Conestoga would have felt intrinsically connected to, and creates a deep and resounding tone for the book, at least in my opinion.
This work is a shining example of how graphic novels can be utilized as a medium for accurate and empathetic historical retellings, while also transcending the medium itself. Half the book is actually made up of notes from the creators and researchers, alongside scans of primary sources they worked from and lesson plans educators can use through a series of classes. If you would like to learn even more, recommendations for further reading are also included alongside links to digital archives of the materials used for research. I feel very privileged to exist in a time in history where I was able to read and absorb this book and appreciate the resilience of the Conestoga hundreds of years after their story was wrongfully believed to have ended. Seeing the amount of work, and the methods, of researching accurate and fair records for the book was also very rewarding for me, since the value of libraries and archives are something I'm working towards being a part of myself. I highly recommend this graphic novel to other readers, but please mind the content warnings below.
Portraying the creators of this graphic novel like characters within it was a wise decision that provides readers with a greater understanding their efforts, both in terms of accuracy and artistry. The full book also includes a variety of supplemental materials, such as introductions and script notes, for this purpose. Francis IV mentions in his script annotations how the time-skips throughout the book are purposefully done to contrast with Western linear narrative structure, as Native stories are often instead "cyclical and contextual". This alternate structure not only frames this historical retelling through a Native understanding, but heightens the emotion of Francis IV and Alvitre's work. Similarly, Alvitre mentions in her introduction how her choice of artistic tools was done to deliberately mimic the style of the political cartoons stemming from the massacre, while instead "reclaim[ing] that period with fresh representational art of the Native Americans who lived and died during this period of history". Her choice of earth tone pigments intends to tie her artwork to the land the Conestoga would have felt intrinsically connected to, and creates a deep and resounding tone for the book, at least in my opinion.
This work is a shining example of how graphic novels can be utilized as a medium for accurate and empathetic historical retellings, while also transcending the medium itself. Half the book is actually made up of notes from the creators and researchers, alongside scans of primary sources they worked from and lesson plans educators can use through a series of classes. If you would like to learn even more, recommendations for further reading are also included alongside links to digital archives of the materials used for research. I feel very privileged to exist in a time in history where I was able to read and absorb this book and appreciate the resilience of the Conestoga hundreds of years after their story was wrongfully believed to have ended. Seeing the amount of work, and the methods, of researching accurate and fair records for the book was also very rewarding for me, since the value of libraries and archives are something I'm working towards being a part of myself. I highly recommend this graphic novel to other readers, but please mind the content warnings below.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, and Violence
shellys's review
5.0
The online edition at https://read.ghostriver.org/ is particularly powerful due to the tags that lead the reader to original sources, explanations of artists, and voices of those gathered to remember.
jedi_indyjones's review
4.0
I loved that this story has been told through beautiful imagery and with information on the history of the Conestoga Massacre. This will resonate with you and leave you feeling sad that so much was lost and simultaneously hopeful for the unity of humankind. Read this for free at https://read.ghostriver.org/
micklesreads's review
5.0
This book is a beautifully drawn telling from the Indigenous perspective of the massacre of the Conestoga in Lancaster, PA.
It's free to read online here: https://read.ghostriver.org/
The book is more than that, though. It also contains historical documents linked throughout, plus interviews with the author, editor, artist, and local Native leaders. This is important revisionist history, and I recommend everyone, but especially Pennsylvanians, read this book to learn the truth about a chapter that is glossed over.
It's free to read online here: https://read.ghostriver.org/
The book is more than that, though. It also contains historical documents linked throughout, plus interviews with the author, editor, artist, and local Native leaders. This is important revisionist history, and I recommend everyone, but especially Pennsylvanians, read this book to learn the truth about a chapter that is glossed over.
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