Next month sees the release of What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel. The latest release from First Second Books’s World Citizen Comics series, the new book adapts Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner‘s 2017 essay collection What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism, with artwork by Tim Foley. The book features sections on different aspects of citizenship, ranging from voting to the role of the press to education to service to others. Today The Beat is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming book, from a section focused on the right to vote.
Here’s the official description for What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel from First Second:
In this graphic novel adaptation of his bestselling collection of essays, legendary news anchor Dan Rather provides a voice of reason and explores what it means to be a true patriot.
Brought to life in stunning color by artist Tim Foley, What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel takes apart the building blocks of this country, from the freedoms that define us, to the values that have transformed us, to the institutions that sustain us. Rather’s vast experience and his unique perspective as one of America’s most renowned newscasters shed light on who we were and who we are today, allowing us to see a possible future, where we are one country; united.
What Unites Us marks a first foray for Rather, a multiple Peabody Award-winning newsman, and his co-writer and fellow journalist Kirschner into the world of graphic novels. It’s the latest non-fiction work for Foley, who has previously illustrated, among other sequential works, a graphic novel about Babe Ruth’s 1927 home run record-setting season. Foley has also provided illustration for the “What Was” line of books on such subjects as the civil rights movement and the Constitution, and his style is well-suited for this latest project.
Check out the seven-page excerpt, exclusive to The Beat, of What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel below. The 288-page hardcover graphic novel goes on sale on March 9th, 2021.
