SHADOWBOXING
Comics in a Climate of Fear
by Ian Rakoff
Sales to the UK and the Rest of the World coming in 2024.
To read reviews of this title, click on the links below:
Review by Marisela Márquez, Ph.D.
University of California, Santa Barbara
Review by José Prado, Ph.D.
California State University, Domínguez Hills
"Everything was under scrutiny and surveillance with weaponized officialdom close by. Contradiction and illogicality suffused the system. Nevertheless, there were many moments I circumnavigated without being locked away. Friendship across the race and gender divide saved my skin more than once.
During early years, I was often bedridden with asthma. I benefitted from the care of a Xhosa woman at hand who revealed the meaning of Ubuntu as a guide for humanity."
SHADOWBOXING is the riveting and personal account of the author's years growing up under Apartheid. Told from the unique perspective of a child who, from an early age, begins to recognize the injustices of his world and the systematic and institutionalized racism and oppression of South Africa. Resistance and rebellion, nurtured in part by an innate sense of fairness gleaned from the heroic stories he read in comic books, grew in respone to the expansion and codification of Apartheid. His love of the Xhosa woman who cared for and guided him awoke a clarity of vision that led to his fighting alongside all those who risked their lives for liberation.
Published in June 2023!
Cover design by Rupert Booth