{"product_id":"9781250824691","title":"A Diary of the Plague Year : An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eA Diary of the Plague Year\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Elise Engler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn extraordinary illustrated chronicle of 2020 that captures this indelible year in America in all its tragic, surreal, epic, and (sometimes) comedic intensity\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtist Elise Engler set herself a task five years ago: to illustrate the first headline she heard on her bedside radio every morning. The idea was to create a pictorial record of one year of listening to the news. But when Donald Trump was elected, the headlines turned too wild for her to stop the experiment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen 2020 happened. Was there ever such a year? Headlines about the death of Kobe Bryant and Donald Trump's impeachment began to give way to news of a mysterious virus in China, and Engler’s pages were quickly filled with the march of COVID-19: schools closing their doors, hospitals overflowing, graveyards full to capacity. Day by day, Engler drew every shocking turn of the year: the police murder of George Floyd and protests around the globe; a war against science and those who preached it; fires consuming California; a vicious election, absurdly contested. Other stories appeared, too: “Harvey Weinstein Sentenced,” “Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized,” “China Extends Control over Hong Kong,” and—on repeat—“Stock Market Plunges.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe result is a powerful visual record of an unprecedented time, collected in \u003ci\u003eA Diary of the Plague Year\u003c\/i\u003e, which follows the headlines from the first appearance of the coronavirus to the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Made in real time, Engler’s vibrant, immediate images recapture what it was like to live through 2020, bringing texture, feeling, and even charm to what we might not remember and what we will never forget.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eA Diary of the Plague Year\u003c\/i\u003e joins a shelf that’s sure to be crowded with reflections on one of the most tumultuous years in a century. Engler’s work will almost certainly stand alone in its effect, though, with its blend of gravitas and levity . . . of our darkest moments rendered with the whimsical sublimity you can only find in the illustrator’s hand.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eVirginia Quarterly Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A stunning visual chronicle . . . In a blunt style that captures the urgency and confusion of that year, Engler’s paintings offer an extraordinarily haunting time capsule of an era readers won’t soon forget.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Never has the daily tempest of news been visually portrayed so brilliantly and poignantly. Elise Engler’s illustrated journalism is a treat to the eye and a balm to our storm-tossed souls.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eEdward Koren\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e cartoonist \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Elise Engler’s inventive, beautifully painted collage-style diary is likely the definitive artistic statement about a relentlessly difficult year.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJoe Sacco\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003ePaying the Land\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eA Diary of the Plague Year \u003c\/i\u003eis a must order! These astute, lively daily works of art record and depict the bizarre, frightening, challenging, and humorous events of our past pandemic election year. We learned that nothing was predictable, that anything could happen and did—and Elise Engler was there.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJoyce Kozloff\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If the year 2020 had kept a diary, this would be it: a journal of seemingly disparate events that combine, like pieces of a puzzle, to form a haunting portrait of the year when the fractured and dissonant tribes of mankind were all stopped in their tracks.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Darrin Bell\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eCandorville \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eRudy Park\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250824691\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Metropolitan Books","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40765100261582,"sku":"9781250824691","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_299f7338-3d5e-4bea-98d7-31fd60ac47c1.jpg?v=1643188378","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250824691","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}