Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE NBCC AWARD IN BIOGRAPHY AND THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY
Krazy is an eye-opening biography that lays bare the truth about George Herriman's art, his heritage, and his life on America's color line. A native of nineteenth-century New Orleans, Herriman came of age as an illustrator, journalist, and cartoonist in the boomtown of Los Angeles and the wild metropolis of New York. Appearing in the biggest early twentieth century newspapers—including those owned by William Randolph Hearst—Herriman's Krazy Kat cartoons propelled him to fame. Popular with readers of the period, his work has been widely credited with elevating cartoons from daily amusements to anarchic art.
Herriman's work explored the human condition, creating a modernist fantasia inspired by the landscapes he discovered in his travels—from chaotic urban life to the Beckett-like desert vistas of the Southwest. Yet underlying his own life—often emerging from the contours of his very public art—was a very private secret: known as "the Greek" for his swarthy complexion and curly hair, Herriman was actually African American, born to a prominent Creole family that hid its racial identity in the dangerous days of Reconstruction.
Drawing on original research into Herriman's family history, interviews with surviving friends and family, and deep analysis of the artist's work and written records, Michael Tisserand brings this little-understood figure to vivid life, paying homage to a visionary artist who helped shape modern culture.
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Michael Tisserand. (2016). Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Michael Tisserand. 2016. Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Michael Tisserand, Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White. HarperCollins, 2016.
MLA Citation (style guide)Michael Tisserand. Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White. HarperCollins, 2016.
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Michael Tisserand is the author of The Kingdom of Zydeco, which won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for music writing, and the Hurricane Katrina memoir Sugarcane Academy. He served as editor of Gambit Weekly, New Orleans' alternative newsweekly. He lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. www.michaeltisserandauthor.com
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- In Michael Tisserand's biography Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, the creator of history's greatest comic strip finally gets his due.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE NBCC AWARD IN BIOGRAPHY AND THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY
Krazy is an eye-opening biography that lays bare the truth about George Herriman's art, his heritage, and his life on America's color line. A native of nineteenth-century New Orleans, Herriman came of age as an illustrator, journalist, and cartoonist in the boomtown of Los Angeles and the wild metropolis of New York. Appearing in the biggest early twentieth century newspapers—including those owned by William Randolph Hearst—Herriman's Krazy Kat cartoons propelled him to fame. Popular with readers of the period, his work has been widely credited with elevating cartoons from daily amusements to anarchic art.
Herriman's work explored the human condition, creating a modernist fantasia inspired by the landscapes he discovered in his travels—from chaotic urban life to the Beckett-like desert vistas of the Southwest. Yet underlying his own life—often emerging from the contours of his very public art—was a very private secret: known as "the Greek" for his swarthy complexion and curly hair, Herriman was actually African American, born to a prominent Creole family that hid its racial identity in the dangerous days of Reconstruction.
Drawing on original research into Herriman's family history, interviews with surviving friends and family, and deep analysis of the artist's work and written records, Michael Tisserand brings this little-understood figure to vivid life, paying homage to a visionary artist who helped shape modern culture. - reviews
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"One of the many virtues of Michael Tisserand's richly illustrated biography of George Herriman, the creator of "Krazy Kat," is its evocation of the early 20th-century newspaper world from which it sprang." — Wall Street Journal
"Essential reading for comics fans and history buffs, Krazy is a roaring success, providing an indispensable new perspective on turn-of-the-century America." — Kirkus (starred)
"Who was the man behind "Krazy Kat"? This fascinating biography and guide to the work of the cartoonist, who passed for white, tells the full story." — New York Times
"Tisserand ... has written the rarest kind of book: scholarship that is accessible and captivating, genuinely fun to read. His prose sparkles, smooth and flowing, rich with metaphor and invention." — Chicago Tribune
"... one of the year's best biographies." — Boston Globe
"Krazy, so rich in anecdote and so warm in affection, succeeds in adding a good deal to the wonder of George Herriman's legacy – mainly by putting the artist in last place on Earth he liked to be: in the spotlight, center stage." — Christian Science Monitor
"It's one of the best true stories told in 2016." — Philadelphia Inquirer
"... engaging, revealing.... Herriman's adventures in newspapering in the early years of the 20th century are alone worth the price of the book.... Whether you're a longtime Krazy Kat fan, as I am, or a new acquaintance, this biography will enrich your knowledge of the Kat and its creator." — Tampa Bay Times
"Perhaps no one in his field is as deserving of a top-notch, in-depth biography as Herriman. And with Michael Tisserand's Krazy we now have a most valuable, studiously researched, and, indeed, definitive profile of the man that does him full justice." — Print
"Herriman's delight in anarchic transformation and gentle subversion had personal roots, as Michael Tisserand reveals in this scrupulously researched, luminously written and eye-opening biography." — The Times Literary Supplement
"A visionary strip. Who drew it, and wherefrom? Tisserand's robust research illuminates, without diminishing, the mystery." — Roy Blount Jr.
"An athletic feat of scholarship and an effort of love—like one of Ignatz's bricks to the head. Tisserand's immaculately researched and super-readable biography captures the madcap modernist Herriman and the weird America of surreal racial realities and publishing superpowers that shaped his revolutionary art." — Hillary Chute
"George Herriman was a poet in a new visual language. As a man, he was an enigma to match his greatest creation, the sublime Krazy Kat. Michael Tisserand has done a masterful job of illuminating this life lived in the shadowy borderlands of racial identity; along the way he also gives a brilliant overview of the golden years of American cartooning. Krazy is a monumental work of biography about a true American genius." — Tom Piazza
"This is a gripping read at the intersection of pop culture and American history." — Publisher's Weekly
"An absorbing study of a genius with a secret." — New Orleans Times-Picayune
"Rich in original research, New Orleans writer Tisserand's encyclopedia biography of Krazy Kat artist George Herriman is also an enlightening history of modern comic strips." — Shelf...
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October 17, 2016
Tisserand (The Kingdom of Zydeco) weaves American history, pop culture, and racial politics with biography to elucidate and celebrate the life of cartoonist George Herriman (1880–1944), the creator of the Krazy Kat comic strip. Readers gain a glut of insight into the development of Krazy Kat, and the many ways the character served as an outlet for Herriman to playfully explore the human condition, which Tisserand sets against the backdrop of Herriman’s own little-known racial identity. Though Herriman passed as a white man his whole life, he was actually African-American, born during Reconstruction to a Creole family that hid its racial identity by moving from New Orleans to California when Herriman was 10. Tisserand reconstructs Herriman’s multicultural background and follows him from his childhood through his apprenticeship in Los Angeles, his big break in New York City, and frequent trips to the Southwest, using these places in their variety to animate Herriman’s identity and provide nuance to his growth as a comics artist. This is a gripping read at the intersection of pop culture and American history.
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Starred review from October 1, 2016
A revelatory biography of the influential Krazy Kat creator George Herriman (1880-1944).Set among the desert mesas of Coconino County, Krazy Kat graced the funny pages from 1913 to 1944 and featured the philosophical antics of Krazy and the brick-throwing mouse, Ignatz. Tisserand (Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and His Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember, 2007, etc.) reveals the depths of their age-old rivalry, tracing influences from Cervantes and Othello to minstrel shows and the Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries bout of 1910. Krazy Kat always had a racial angle: Herriman was born a fair-skinned boy to African-American parents and grew up in the Creole community of New Orleans. His complexion allowed him to pass as white, a controversial practice that Herriman carried secretly throughout his life. Though he penned numerous stripse.g., "Us Husbands," "Baron Mooch," and "The Family Upstairs"it wasnt until the publication of Krazy Katin 1913 that he moved toward the life of a celebrated artist, garnering praise from the likes of e.e. cummings and President Woodrow Wilson. Herrimans unique racial perspective allowed him to sneak some remarkably potent themes into his cartoons, many of which were likely lost on his readers at the time: Krazy, for instance, is revealed to have been born in the cellar of a haunted house, in a tale which must never be told, and yet which everyone knows. In another gag, Ignatz flings a mug at Krazy saying its not the black coffee he wanted. Sure it is, Krazy tells him. Look unda the milk. Tisserand elevates this exhaustively researched and profusely illustrated book beyond the typical comics biography. Seamlessly integrating the story of Herrimans life, he executes an impressive history of early-20th-century race relations, the rise of Hearst and the newspaper boom, and the burgeoning cross-continental society life of New York and Los Angeles. Essential reading for comics fans and history buffs, Krazy is a roaring success, providing an indispensable new perspective on turn-of-the-century America.COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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November 15, 2016
Tisserand (The Kingdom of Zydeco) presents a well-researched, engaging biography of George Herriman (1880-1944), creator of the comic strip Krazy Kat. This brilliant but modestly successful strip ran in American newspapers from 1913 to 1944 and influenced luminaries such as Bill Watterson and Charles Schulz. The chronicle begins with the lives of Herriman's great grandparents in New Orleans before detailing Herriman's early years and the family's migration to the Los Angeles area. From there, the author foregrounds Herriman's budding career as a comics writer as he bounced among prominent newspapers and boxing matches, eventually landing in the offices of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who would later become a great champion of Krazy Kat. Tisserand also weaves in the challenges Herriman faced trying to hide his African American lineage--colleagues often teased him because of his "kinky hair" and for a time dubbed him "George the Greek" because he would not discuss his background. At every step, this work brilliantly re-creates the milieu of its subject's life by shading in the historical context. VERDICT A significant book for comics scholars and those interested in tracing Herriman's development from novice to master of the medium.--Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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November 1, 2016
The creator of the comic strip Krazy Kat, George Herriman (18801944) was a man of mystery to even his best friends. Small, modest, self-deprecating, ever more reclusive as he aged, Herriman, it developed, had a secret that came to light when in 1971 a researcher found birth records he at first disbelieved that verified the cartoonist was of African American heritage. Herriman had passed as white ever since his father moved the family from increasingly Jim Crow New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1890. Keeping his guard up ever after meant that, during his working life, he never attended family events; never discussed his origins (in fact, said he was a native Californian); and always wore a hat, indoors and out, to cover his kinky hair. That his precautions were justified Tisserand doesn't let us forget, nor does he fail to point out the satiric jabs against racism that Herriman made in his cartooning all along. Meanwhile, Herriman became the acknowledged (by his colleagues, if hardly himself) first-among-equals of the comic strip's golden age.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
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Starred review from January 1, 2018
The brilliant and wacky Krazy Kat comic strip ran in American newspapers from 1913 to 1944 and influenced numerous comics luminaries, including Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Charles Schulz (Peanuts). The creator was New Orleans native George Herriman, who hid his race for most of his life. This Eisner-winning biography draws on historical research, interviews, and analysis to understand and pay homage to this visionary of graphic narrative. (LJ 11/15/16)
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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- In Michael Tisserand's biography Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, the creator of history's greatest comic strip finally gets his due.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE NBCC AWARD IN BIOGRAPHY AND THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY
Krazy is an eye-opening biography that lays bare the truth about George Herriman's art, his heritage, and his life on America's color line. A native of nineteenth-century New Orleans, Herriman came of age as an illustrator, journalist, and cartoonist in the boomtown of Los Angeles and the wild metropolis of New York. Appearing in the biggest early twentieth century newspapers—including those owned by William Randolph Hearst—Herriman's Krazy Kat cartoons propelled him to fame. Popular with readers of the period, his work has been widely credited with elevating cartoons from daily amusements to anarchic... - sortTitle
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