Golem's Mighty Swing
Regular price
€18.99
Before penning his acclaimed graphic novel Market Day and founding the Center for Cartoon Studies, James Sturm proved his worth as a master cartoonist with the eloquent graphic novel, The Golem s Mighty Swing, one of the first breakout graphic novel hits of the 21st century. Sturm s fascination with the invisible America has been the crux of his comics work, exploring the rarely-told or oft-forgotten bits of history that define a country. By reuniting America s greatest pastime with its hidden history, the graphic novel tells the story of the Stars of David, a barnstorming Jewish baseball team of the depression era. Led by its manager and third baseman, the nomadic team travels from small town to small town providing the thrill of the sport while playing up their religious exoticism as a curio for people to gawk at, heckle, and taunt. When the team s fortunes fall, the players are presented a plan to get people in the stands. But by placing their fortunes in the hands of a promoter, the Stars of David find themselves fanning the flames of ethnic tensions.
Sturm s nuanced composition is on full display as he deftly builds the climax of the game against the rising anti-Semitic fervour of the crowd. Baseball, small towns, racial tensions, and the desperate grasp for the American Dream: The Golem s Mighty Swing is a classic American novel.
James Sturm lives in White River Junction, Vermont, with his wife and two daughters, where he helps run a cartooning school that he co-founded, The Center for Cartoon Studies. James books include Market Day, James Sturm s America, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, The Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules, Denys Wortman s New York, and the popular Adventures in Cartooning series. His comics, writing, and illustrations have appeared in scores of national and regional publications including the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Onion, the New York Times, Slate, and on the cover of the New Yorker. James has taught and exhibited his work throughout the world.