The Strand and Shigeru Mizuki
While Eli 25.1 was here, we all went to the Strand bookstore in Manhattan.
It's one of the most famous bookstores in the world, with an inconceivably diverse collection of books.
I focused on the graphic novel section, which was the largest I've ever seen. And it was there that I found Shigeru Mizuki's four volume history of Japan, covering the years from 1926 to 1989. It's relatively famous, and given that it was right in front of me, impossible to resist.
I bought the first two volumes and have almost finished the first. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a dual narrative, both a general history of that time in Japan and a personal recounting of Mizuki's life. In the first volume, he's only a boy, and the stories are tremendously entertaining.
It's deeply informative, and the art style is terrific as well. Here's a link if you're interested (to the paperback edition, not the Kindle version, for obvious reasons: Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan.
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