{"title":"Books by Derf Backderf","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781419702174","title":"My Friend Dahmer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA national bestseller, Derf Backderf’s Alex Award winner \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMy Friend Dahmer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e is the bone-chilling graphic novel that inspired the major motion picture.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou only think you know this story. In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer—the most notorious serial killer since Jack the Ripper—seared himself into the American consciousness. To the public, Dahmer was a monster who committed unthinkable atrocities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Derf Backderf, “Jeff” was a more complex figure: a high school friend with whom he had shared classrooms, hallways, and car rides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eMy Friend Dahmer\u003c\/i\u003e, a haunting and original graphic novel, writer-artist Derf Backderf creates a portrait of a disturbed young man struggling with the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith profound insight, what emerges is a Jeffrey Dahmer that few ever really knew, and one readers will never forget.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlso available by Derf Backderf:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dissidents\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eTrashed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eKent State: Four Dead in Ohio\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204393894066,"sku":"9781419702174","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781419702174.jpg?v=1786019808"},{"product_id":"9781419734847","title":"Kent State","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom Derf Backderf, the bestselling author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMy Friend Dahmer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e, comes the Eisner and ALA\/YALSA Alex Award-winning tragic and unforgettable story of the Kent State shootings, told in graphic novel form.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Forbes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Publishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Library Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e, and NPR, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKent State: Four Dead in Ohio\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e is a moving and troubling story about the bitter price of dissent—as relevant today as it was in 1970.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard gunned down unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. In a deadly barrage of 67 shots, four students were killed and nine shot and wounded. It was the day America turned guns on its own children—a shocking event burned into our national memory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fatal shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country. More than four million students participated in organized walkouts at hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools, the largest student strike in the history of the United States at that time. It was a day that shocked the nation and helped turn the tide of public opinion against America’s war in Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA few days prior, 10-year-old Derf Backderf saw those same guardsmen patrolling his nearby hometown, sent in by the governor to crush a trucker strike.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsing the journalism skills he employed on \u003ci\u003eMy Friend Dahmer\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTrashed\u003c\/i\u003e, Backderf has conducted extensive interviews and research to explore the lives of these four young people and the events of those four days in May, when the country seemed on the brink of tearing apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this award-winning and powerful graphic novel, Derf Backderf takes us back to the age of the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon, Woodstock, and the Cold War and explores, in words and images, a scene of tragedy: the campus of Kent State University, where National Guard Troops attacked unarmed protestors and killed four students (Allison Beth Krause, age 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, age 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, age 20, and William Knox Schroeder, age 19).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685828796789,"sku":"9781419765469","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56312319181173,"sku":"9781419734847","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781419765469.jpg?v=1792599032"},{"product_id":"dissidents","title":"The Dissidents","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the award-winning author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMy Friend Dahmer \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eand \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKent State\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e comes a timely graphic novel about racism, violence, and political turmoil in the early 20th century, when a handful of cartoonists and journalists pushed back against a corrupt administration to defend the rights of free speech\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE . . . BUT WE FORGOT.”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s 1916. President Woodrow Wilson—a deeply divisive authoritarian who is also a white supremacist with open contempt for constitutional rights—sits in the Oval Office.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRacial tensions, unprecedented economic inequality, a groundswell of support for unionization, and the rise of both a reactionary far right militia and a growing radical opposition shake the very foundations of American society. A pandemic is two years away. And the 1900s have only just gotten started.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“AMERICA IS A COUNTRY ON THE BRINK OF CHAOS.”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dissidents\u003c\/i\u003e follows a group of real and influential political cartoonists who worked for the magazine \u003ci\u003eThe Masses\u003c\/i\u003e—Art Young, Boardman Robinson, Cornelia Barns, and others, dominant in their day but now forgotten—as well as a fictional young German immigrant from Cleveland, Joe Hertle, who has come to New York to make his name.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey rub elbows with the great opposition voices of the day, such as journalists Max Eastman and John Reed, and the radical provocateur Emma Goldman. What they document in their cartoons and illustrations is a country spiraling into darkness, under attack by German saboteurs and private militias, plagued by racism, and rocked by class war.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the crime of documenting the times they live in, these cartoonists are indicted for sedition and put on trial by the U.S. government—with twenty-year sentences hanging over their heads. Two others are forced to flee the country into exile. Another is incarcerated by the U.S. army and scheduled for execution!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAward-winning author Derf Backderf raises the bar for visual storytelling in this gripping, layered, and perceptive original graphic novel, told through the lens of the political cartoonists whose work shaped our history and also held a mirror to it. Finding a personal connection as a journalist who started out as a political cartoonist, he opens a door to our past and crafts a story that pulls from the strongest elements of his previous work. In \u003ci\u003eThe Dissidents\u003c\/i\u003e, Backderf delivers an utterly unique account of U.S. history, making connections to the events of today as they relate to the seeds that were sown over a hundred years ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dissidents\u003c\/i\u003e is his magnum opus. It is a gripping tale of political passion, artistic ambition, love, and betrayal, with great characters and unexpected twists. It’s a suspenseful and fascinating American story that is almost completely forgotten today—and a terrifying and relevant warning from the past.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57504937574773,"sku":"9781419772559","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781419772559.jpg?v=1786953856"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-derf-backderf.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}