March: Book Two

Staff Top Fives 2015

Our favorite books of the year.

Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, continues his award-winning graphic novel trilogy with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, inspired by a 1950s comic book that helped prepare his own generation to join the struggle. Now, March brings the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation, urgently relevant for today's world.

After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence — but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before. Faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment, arson, and even murder, the movement's young activists place their lives on the line while internal conflicts threaten to tear them apart.

But their courage will attract the notice of powerful allies, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy... and once Lewis is elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, this 23-year-old will be thrust into the national spotlight, becoming one of the "Big Six" leaders of the civil rights movement and a central figure in the landmark 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

"A must-read monument....As Rep. Lewis continues to carry the civil-rights flame, this graphic achievement is a firsthand beacon that burns ever relevant today." The Washington Post

"This memoir puts a human face on a struggle that many students will primarily know from textbooks....Visually stunning, the black-and-white illustrations convey the emotions of this turbulent time....This insider's view of the civil rights movement should be required reading for young and old; not to be missed." School Library Journal (starred review)

"A gripping visual experience that enhances the power of Lewis's unforgettable tale." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Heroism and steadiness of purpose continue to light up Lewis's frank, harrowing account of the civil rights movement's climactic days....Powell's dark, monochrome ink-and-wash scenes add further drama to already-dramatic events." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

John Lewis is Georgia's Fifth Congressional District Representative and an American icon widely known for his role in the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis' 1999 memoir Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, called "the definitive account of the civil rights movement" (The Washington Post), won numerous honors, including the Robert F. Kennedy, Lillian Smith, and Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. His most recent book, Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change, received for the NAACP Image Award. His first graphic novel, March (Book One) — co-authored with Andrew Aydin — will be published by Top Shelf in August 2013.

Andrew Aydin is the co-author (with Congressman John Lewis) of the #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel March: Book One. Hailing from Atlanta, he currently serves in Rep. Lewis' congressional office handling telecommunications and technology policy as well as new media. Previously, he served as communications director and press secretary during Rep. Lewis' 2008 and 2010 re-election campaigns, as District Aide to Rep. John Larson (D-CT), and as Special Assistant to Connecticut Lt. Governor Kevin Sullivan. Andrew is a graduate of the Lovett School in Atlanta, Trinity College in Hartford, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Nate Powell is a New York Times best-selling graphic novelist born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1978. He began self-publishing at age 14, and graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2000. His work includes the critically acclaimed Any Empire, Swallow Me Whole (winner of the Eisner Award and Ignatz Award, finalist for the LA Times Book Prize), The Year of the Beasts, The Silence of Our Friends, and Sounds of Your Name. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.