THE WAY FORWARD

A graphic history of early-20th-century China told through black-and-white illustrations.

Beginning with the 1911 revolution and the fall of the Qing dynasty, this fifth volume in the Understanding China Through Comics series moves through the rise of Sun Yatsen to the early years of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, then on to the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, before concluding as Mao finally establishes the People’s Republic of China in 1949. While the complexities of these historical events are not fully explored in this overview, a good deal of factual information is presented, and the broad scope of the material covered is apparent. The interplay between Chinese and global history is also clear and addressed well. Particularly visually striking are the charts illustrating troop losses in battle and economic disparities between different groups. Other information is conveyed largely through narration or characters monologuing about their actions and motivations, content that lacks emotional depth. This, however, is somewhat made up for by full-page, sometimes surreal illustrations of major events, such as the Battle of Hengyang, Operation Ichigo, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which provide arresting interludes in this accounting of history that is otherwise focused on timelines and statistics.

A bit dry but provides a foundation for further learning.