Review: "Terrorist - Gavrilo Princip, the Assassin who Ignited World War I," by Henrik Reh

Once again I've delved into the world of graphic novels in an historical context. The title tells it all and a wonderful history lesson is contained within. Beginning with his birth, Princip is portrayed as a poor, peasant farmer, raised on

books and ideas and the feeling that his people, Serbians, had been tortured, controlled and disenfranchised for centuries. His willingness to sacrifice his life fro what he perceived to be a greater truth is very evident throughout. In many respects now that we live in a world where terrorism and its proponents not only survive, but seem to thrive, it would be a good measure to learn from the events and the individuals caught up in such movements over a century ago. Much of modern terrorists thinking and rhetoric sound like they were taken from the words and musings of Princip and the writers he followed. Their origins appear to come fromt he same roots and if we are unable to nurture those soured plants in a different way, we are certainly doomed to walk among these folk as they act on their beliefs. At the very least this was an excellent telling of history, extremely detailed with fine intensive pencil drawings that were both evocative and descriptive. If I had been asked to read a history I might not have been moved to do so, but this was informative and compelling.