The history of SDS as you've never seen it before.

In 1962 at a United Auto Workers' camp in Michigan, Students for a Democratic Society held its historic convention and prepared the famous Port Huron Statement, drafted by Tom Hayden. This statement, criticizing the U.S. government's failure to pursue international peace or address domestic inequality, became the organization's manifesto. Its last convention was held in 1969 in Chicago, where, collapsing under the weight of its notoriety and popularity, it shattered into myriad factions. Through brilliant art and they were-there dialogue, famed graphic novelist Harvey Pekar, gifted artist Gary Dumm, and renowned historian Paul Buhle illustrate the tumultuous decade that first defined and then was defined by the men and women who gathered under the SDS banner. Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History captures the idealism and activism that drove a generation of young Americans to believe that even one person's actions can help transform the world.

"American Splendor's Pekar has been incredibly prolific in the last few years, and more recently he has taken on nonautobiographical projects to varying degrees of success. This newest effort works on a variety of levels. For one, Pekar is not the sole author. He constructs a narrative of the history of the Students for a Democratic Society, but frequently steps aside to allow actual participants in that history to tell their own stories, using his casual first-person model of storytelling. The narrative moves through the decade of SDS history and then moves into the participant accounts, offering both a macro and a micro vision of the times. The artwork is mostly by frequent Pekar collaborator Gary Dumm, whose crisp, neutral realism may not be thrilling but does move the story along and does a fine job of conveying the various settings. As a whole, the book acts like a sophisticated handbook on an often misunderstood organization. It's good comics and excellent history." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Students looking for background and details of the tumultuous social changes that happened in the 1960s will find plenty to satisfy them here." School Library Journal

"Learned, passionate and accessible history of the first order, casting a critical but mostly benevolent eye on an often-contradictory movement." Kirkus Reviews

Through brilliant art and they-were-there dialogue, famed graphic novelist Pekar, gifted artist Dumm, and renowned historian Buhle illustrate the tumultuous decade that first defined and then was defined by those who gathered under the SDS banner.

Harvey Pekar is best known for his graphic autobiography, American Splendor, on which comic artist Gary Dumm collaborated.

Paul Buhle, a senior lecturer at Brown University, was founding editor of the SDS journal Radical America.