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A review by mschlat
Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq by Sarah Glidden
5.0
The short take: a wonderfully fascinating take on independent journalism visiting the Middle East. If you have enjoyed any [a:Joe Sacco|32468|Joe Sacco|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363002204p2/32468.jpg], any nonfiction work from [a:Jessica Abel|93963|Jessica Abel|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1424869623p2/93963.jpg], or Glidden's previous book ([b:How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less|13810051|How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Writer & Artist, Sarah Glidden|Sarah Glidden|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356475358s/13810051.jpg|13937259]), you should read this.
The long take: Bear with me. In this book, Sarah Glidden is carrying out comics journalism by showing her trip to the Middle East with the independent journalism outfit the Seattle Globalist, led by Sarah Stuteville. Stuteville, with her compatriots, have set up a trip to explore refugees from Iraq in Turkey and Syria, as well as explore displacement within Iraq. Stuteville has brought a childhood friend of hers, Dan, who served in the U.S. military in Iraq to get his impressions on the impact the war had.
Thus, in one volume, we get the following issues: How will the Globalist access sources when shadowed by the Syrian government? How will Sarah Glidden cover the questions Sarah Stuteville has about her own profession and ethics? Will Dan, in visiting Iraq, change his opinion about his part in the war? If he doesn't, does Stuteville have a story? How should Glidden react when Dan talks more honestly with her than with Stuteville? Can Stuteville ask the tough questions of an Iraqi source (mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report) whose story sounds unbelievable?
Putting aside for now the issues of the Middle East, the whole work is a fascinating exploration into journalistic ethics, highlighted by the fact that the Globalist folk are truly freelance journalists who (in this case) build their work out of a relatively free-form visit. One contact leads to another, one encounter turns into a theme which builds into a story... And yet, there's always the issue of audience --- what can they write about that they know will get read (or even published)? How do you make the lives of refugees important to U.S. readers?
For me, two things stood out about the trip from a geopolitical stance. First, there's a lot about the Kurds and their seemingly endless search for independence. Glidden clearly shows the divide between Kurdish Iraq and the rest of the country (for example, highlighting the refugees who headed north to more Kurdish country whom the Kurdish leaders want to return so they have a better representation in the south). Second, the depiction of Syria here is pre-civil war, and its peacefulness and civilized nature (albeit still authoritarian) stand out in contrast to the 2017 reality.
Glidden's artwork and storytelling is several steps above [b:How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less|13810051|How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Writer & Artist, Sarah Glidden|Sarah Glidden|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356475358s/13810051.jpg|13937259]. I think the line work is simpler but more emotionally effective. (She does a particularly good job of portraying Stuteville's turns from frustration and desperation to determination and curiousity.) And the coloring (which, if not actual watercolor, resembles it a great deal) is quite nice --- muted, but still effective.
One of the best nonfiction graphic novels I've read in a while and the best at depicting the work of journalism.
The long take: Bear with me. In this book, Sarah Glidden is carrying out comics journalism by showing her trip to the Middle East with the independent journalism outfit the Seattle Globalist, led by Sarah Stuteville. Stuteville, with her compatriots, have set up a trip to explore refugees from Iraq in Turkey and Syria, as well as explore displacement within Iraq. Stuteville has brought a childhood friend of hers, Dan, who served in the U.S. military in Iraq to get his impressions on the impact the war had.
Thus, in one volume, we get the following issues: How will the Globalist access sources when shadowed by the Syrian government? How will Sarah Glidden cover the questions Sarah Stuteville has about her own profession and ethics? Will Dan, in visiting Iraq, change his opinion about his part in the war? If he doesn't, does Stuteville have a story? How should Glidden react when Dan talks more honestly with her than with Stuteville? Can Stuteville ask the tough questions of an Iraqi source (mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report) whose story sounds unbelievable?
Putting aside for now the issues of the Middle East, the whole work is a fascinating exploration into journalistic ethics, highlighted by the fact that the Globalist folk are truly freelance journalists who (in this case) build their work out of a relatively free-form visit. One contact leads to another, one encounter turns into a theme which builds into a story... And yet, there's always the issue of audience --- what can they write about that they know will get read (or even published)? How do you make the lives of refugees important to U.S. readers?
For me, two things stood out about the trip from a geopolitical stance. First, there's a lot about the Kurds and their seemingly endless search for independence. Glidden clearly shows the divide between Kurdish Iraq and the rest of the country (for example, highlighting the refugees who headed north to more Kurdish country whom the Kurdish leaders want to return so they have a better representation in the south). Second, the depiction of Syria here is pre-civil war, and its peacefulness and civilized nature (albeit still authoritarian) stand out in contrast to the 2017 reality.
Glidden's artwork and storytelling is several steps above [b:How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less|13810051|How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Writer & Artist, Sarah Glidden|Sarah Glidden|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356475358s/13810051.jpg|13937259]. I think the line work is simpler but more emotionally effective. (She does a particularly good job of portraying Stuteville's turns from frustration and desperation to determination and curiousity.) And the coloring (which, if not actual watercolor, resembles it a great deal) is quite nice --- muted, but still effective.
One of the best nonfiction graphic novels I've read in a while and the best at depicting the work of journalism.