The Man who Never was

The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega My rating: 3 of 5 stars Going blind into the book, I had no idea or expectations towards 'The Middle Ages' by Eleanor Janega. For the first third of the book, we got a clear, concise, easy to understand, cliff notes version of the medieval world, following the split of the Roman Empire into West & East. I call it a cliff notes version, because a lot of events are summarized, and we get synopsis breezing through some key events which characterized the times. Most of the book deals with what is essentially the histories of Europe, as well as some supplementary stuff that happened when they interacted with Asia & Africa. Despite not being of said cultural background, having had some exposure to the subject, through similar academic works, many of the things described in the works were familiar to me (Although, full disclosure, the only reasons I even know the distinction between various cultu...

Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel by Odyr My rating: 4 of 5 stars “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm Whenever anyone starts talking about some of the most relevant & enduring works of the 20th century, one would be remiss if not mentioning the works of George Orwell such as 1984 & Animal farm. And for good reason. If learning history teaches us not to repeat our past mistakes, then Orwell is the man who has distilled tomes upon tomes worth of philosophical, ideological & political thoughts into a manner which is easily digestible to the laymen, without needing to delve into the manifestos which govern those political ideologies. One need not read a hundred or so political treatises by historians or analysts regarding the rise & fall of communism in its flagship enterprise of the Soviet Union. (Although it’ll do you good, if you were to expend the time & effort to do so...