Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Graphic Novel

by Cynthia Levinson, Sanford Levinson, Ally Shwed (Illustrator)

Overview

The latest volume in our World Citizen Comics graphic novel series, Fault Lines in the Constitution teaches readers how this founding document continues to shape modern American society.

In 1787, after 116 days of heated debates and bitter arguments, the United States Constitution was created. This imperfect document set forth America’s guiding principles, but it would also introduce some of today's most contentious political issues—from gerrymandering, to the Electoral College, to presidential impeachment.

With colorful art, compelling discourse, and true stories from America's past and present, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Graphic Novel sheds light on how today's political struggles have their origins in the decisions of our Founding Fathers.

Children’s book author Cynthia Levinson, constitutional law scholar Sanford Levinson, and artist Ally Shwed deftly illustrate how contemporary problems arose from this founding document—and then they offer possible solutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250211613
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	09/22/2020
Series:	World Citizen Comics
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	257,103
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 17 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Levinson writes award-winning nonfiction books about social justice for young readers, including The Youngest Marcher and Watch out for Flying Kids. She also braids bread with six strands, juggles up to two balls, and takes a constitutional most days. The co-athors have four thoroughly splendid grandchildren and divide their time between Austin, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts.

Sanford Levinson is a professor both at the University of Texas Law School and the University of Texas at Austin Department of Government. The author of many books on the U.S. Constitution and other subjects, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the lifetime achievement award of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association in 2010

Ally Shwed is a cartoonist, writer, and editor, originally from Linden, New Jersey. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art & Design and has worked with The Boston Globe, Topic, Jezebel, and The Intercept. She regularly contributes to the comics journalism website The Nib and is the editor-in-chief of Little Red Bird Press, a comics publisher and printmaking studio. She currently lives in Belmar, New Jersey with her partner, cartoonist Gerardo Alba, and their cats, Egon and Schneider.

Editorial Reviews

08/03/2020

This jaunty graphic adaptation of the Levinsons’ 2017 youth guide to “the framers, their fights, and the flaws that affect us today” highlights the enduring problem points in the foundational document of the United States. Each chapter opens with real-life dilemmas that, according to the authors, stemmed from “crises we’ve faced since 1787 the limitations, ambiguities, and flatly bad ideas in the Constitution.” The work is at its strongest in these personalized anecdotes, such as an elderly woman disenfranchised by voter ID laws and an undocumented immigrant’s fight for legal status, but focus gets lost as 21 chapters race to cram in examples of how the Constitution impacts contemporary America in matter ranging from gerrymandering to farm subsidies. Shwed’s crisp layouts and cute character design manage to make the information overload more digestible, while Gerardo Alba’s red-white-and-blue color palette provides even the driest topics some pop. The Levinsons can be credited with a mountain of research and noble aims. But while it may appeal to students eager to avoid a standard textbook slog, the combination of dense text and rambling focus proves less accessible than the comics treatment promises. All the elements for a timely resource are here, but the result feels a touch underbaked. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"The Levinsons create an approachable mix of anecdotes, comparisons with governments from around the world, and a fanciful imagining of the Framers frustratedly yelling and throwing their hands in the air. This tone, plus Shwed’s intentionally limited color palette of mostly red, white, blue, black, and gold, calls to mind Schoolhouse Rock animations..."—Booklist

"The book — succinct, powerful, playful, provocative — tracks the evolution of the Constitution." —The Boston Globe

"A provocative illumination of the nooks and crannies of a document that citizens have come to take for granted." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2020-07-14
A thorough examination of the Constitution, its promises and problems, in the form of a graphic novel.

The latest entry in the publisher’s World Citizen Comics series isn’t a patriotic celebration but rather an engagingly readable and well-researched analysis of how the Constitution came about and what its decisions and compromises have meant for the U.S. ever since. Featuring text by the Levinsons, who collaborated on a children’s title of the same name in 2017, and illustrations by cartoonist Shwed, the book offers a “report card” for the Constitution, giving it a C overall (it fares better on defense and poorer on promoting the general welfare). If the Constitution aims to form “a more perfect union,” we might well need a more perfect document. This could be accomplished via a considerable revision of a document that has proven singularly difficult to amend or through the calling of a new Constitutional Convention, all in the effort to deal with issues that the framers couldn’t have foreseen in 1787 or problems that were inherent flaws in the original compromise at a time when the country seemed less like a truly united country and more like a confederation of independent states, to which citizens owed their first allegiance. Fears that more populous states would exert their will over smaller ones have resulted in processes that the authors suggest are undemocratic, including the Electoral College, the makeup of the Senate, the filibuster, gerrymandering, and all sorts of political finagling that runs counter to the wishes of the majority. They provide numerous examples of how issues we face now are the result of decisions made by the framers when the concerns were very different. Perhaps a better Constitution would inspire a better country.

A provocative illumination of the nooks and crannies of a document that citizens have come to take for granted.

Kirkus Reviews

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