A memoir that examines rural poverty and the lingering strains of racism in the South by the author of Salvage the bones.

"Losing her beloved father at age eleven, a child finds the strength to reinvent herself as a woman of influence and substance. Neglected by a grieving mother, she finds solace in poetry and art. A child of the sixties, Joan jumps headlong into the format of political activism and rock and roll. Upon landing in Berkeley, she is embraced by a community of artists who encourage her to find her voice"--Front jacket flap.

"Moments of great intensity in the lives of Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Joan of Arc, when each faced a decision that would shape her legacy. When Jane Austen's father deeded the family home to her brother, Jane was tossed to the winds, no money to her name, probably too old to be wed. At this bleak moment, she receives a proposal of marriage from a rich but boring man. Midnight takes us to the hour of her decision: between financial security and...

"Peter Bagge has defied the expectations of the comics industry by changing gears from his famous slacker hero Buddy Bradley to documenting the life and times of historical 20th century trailblazers. If Bagge had not already had a New York Times bestseller with his biography of Margaret Sanger, his newest biography, Fire!!: The Zora Neale Hurston Story, would seem to be an unfathomable pairing of author and subject. Yet through Bagge's skilled cartooning,...