In the Shadow of No Towers

In the Shadow of No Towers

I’m going to start this with some current politics. Florida senate recently passed house bill 1467, with the effective date of 07/01/22. This bill requires that all educational materials must be processed through a review system through the district schooling board. Only materials that pass this review system will be reintroduced for use. What this all means is that some Florida school libraries were stripped of every single book, then these books were graded against criteria composed by the Republican Senate and allows for parents to raise objections against specific titles that have been reviewed, and those books that don’t meet that grade were removed from schools.

The result of this cull speaks for itself. The list of titles that have been deemed inappropriate share a few central themes: They generally have a point of view character from a minority (be it racial, religious, gender or sexuality), or the discuss inequality in current or historical context, or they outline negativity against the American system (The U.S. prison economy, healthcare, gun control, corruption or negligence within the police force). Can you spell systemic suppression boys and girls? The actual rally cry form DeSantis was “the Stop-Woke Act” … Woke… what a fundamentally absurd concept. But it’s been used to justify an agenda that is turning parts of America into an ultra-Christian rabid hell scape. Orwell’s work should have been warnings, not prophecies.

One book I wasn’t surprised to learn didn’t pass the bar was Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1991). Maus has been banned across many states of the U.S.A. due to its unflinching retelling of the holocaust, albeit through the medium of Mice and Cats. It’s a heart-breaking masterpiece. I borrowed it from a friend whilst at university and had to apologise for the marks my tears left. It is the exact sort of book that should be taught in schools, rather than banned from them.

However, I’ve seen no reference to In the Shadow of No Towers being banned. Either the powers that be haven’t read it, or they mistook the irony for sympathy, or they simply didn’t understand the message was that although they were a victim of an atrocity it doesn’t justify xenophobia or alienation of an entire populace. This shows the drastic spiralling nature of American society. It waves the flag, therefore must be good, right? In truth this is the most damning piece of literature on American culture I’ve ever read.

What am I reading? In the Shadow of No Towers, 2004, by Art Spiegelman.

What’s it about? This book chronicles Spiegelman’s reaction to the attack on the World Trade Centre, on 11/09/01. He puts to paper his anxieties about the aftermath and catalogues the transformation America underwent in a mix self-defence and retaliation. It’s littered with real news-paper comic stripes that highlight the change in views of the U.S. press and public.

What’s good about it? As a piece of objet d’art, this book is fascinating. The first thing that strikes the reader is the curious size and print of the book. It’s an oversize board back; nearly 1” thick, 10” wide and 15” tall, on thick dense cardboard. It adds a surreal childish quality. The jet-black gloss cover, with the voids of the Twin Towers behind the title, is quite a disturbing contrast to the infantile formatting. (My personal copy is distinctly foxed, making it even more like a children’s book.)

But that’s nothing compared to the content. The pages are a barely coherent jumble of consciousness. When I’ve previously experienced anxiety attacks, I get lost in a wash of an internal droning buzz, with glimpses out into the world around me. Most of the 48 pages feel like that. It’s a fever dream of fear. But its also incredibly insightful and maddeningly real. You agree and feel with Spiegelman. Nothing he says or worries about is unfound paranoia, but all legitimate concerns for the country he calls home. The imagery boldly captures how he sees himself and his countrymen shift into the mirror of Maus. My closest reference would be political cartoons, but this is in no way satirical.

There was a little detail on one of the pages that boarders on prophetic. This depicts Spiegelman in an altercation with another New Yorker. The woman is spouting foul anti-Semitic nonsense, about how all the world’s troubles are caused by Jews. He’s encountered the woman before, but never engaged, until the afternoon of 9/11. He snaps back at her: “Damn it, Lady! If you don’t stop blaming everything on the Jews, People are gonna think you’re crazy!”. The racist woman is wearing a red cap. Although you can just make out that it’s a Yankees’ cap, but my mind immediately sprang to MAGA headwear.

What did I struggle with? If I wasn’t depressed for America before reading it, I am now. Spiegelman wrote these strips in 2004, and they were published in various newspapers at the time but looking back now he hit the nail on the head. He was right about almost everything: The rallying of a nation through an unjust, unguided war machine. The furthering isolationist attitude brought about by ingraining the fear of the other. Nurturing extremists and hatred under the blanket of the American’s birth right of freedom. He saw it all coming, because he heard it all before from his Jewish German father in the forties.

Spiegelman wants you to feel sickened by his observations and warnings, and he achieves that abundantly. He is a master of the craft, and he uses all the tricks a comic book can to pull the rug out from under you. He hits you with: Non-linear and overlapping panelling, so you don’t know where the story begins or ends. Colour clashes that break the flow of your eyes. Both foreground and background ballooning, so dialogue or exposition weaves in and out of focus. Drastic tonal shifts with photograph imagery embedded in his cartoon city, or real historical political cartoons from 1920s – 1950s… its overwhelming. Its only 48 pages, but it is exhausting.

It feels like a cursed book. A tome. A relic. Something from an Indiana Jones movie. A carboard tablet, with a warning writ large enough for all to see, but few took the time.

Would I recommend? I think it’s a book that needs to be experienced. It is beautifully crafted by a legend of medium. It’s extremely important if little known. But would I recommend it? Probably only if you were the kind of person who had Animal Farm / Slaughterhouse Five / Fahrenheit 451 prominently on your shelves already. It’s not for the faint hearted. It’s more likely to inspire essays over art.