The Great War - A book that unfolds into an illustrated scroll depicting the events of one day in WW1



The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme

by Joe Sacco

W. W. Norton & Company

2013, 54 pages, 8.6 x 11.4 x 1.2

$22 Buy a copy on Amazon

This book is really one long continuous pen drawing. Illustrator Joe Sacco has drawn the events of a single day in World War I in minute detail as a long scroll, folded accordion-style between covers. You slip the folded scroll out from the hard book case and unfold history. To illustrate the texture of a battle from WWI — perhaps the most deadly war in human history ranked by deaths per person — Sacco picked July 1, 1916, the first day of the battle of the Somme. The scroll starts with the staging of the troops behind the line and marches you to the front and down into the trenches, barbed wire, till night comes and mad bombings flare ceaselessly. There is a beauty in his spotless depiction of hell. He spent years in research to make sure everything shown was historically accurate. In this illustrated panorama, time is stopped, encouraging the reader to study the field, the equipment, the dress, the vehicles, the strategy, and the horror in a way neither text nor photographs permit. The scroll could easily be framed and mounted as art. – Kevin Kelly