Birth of a Nation #[nn]

*Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel* brings together Aaron McGruder (*Boondocks* creator) and writer/director Reginald Hudlin for a sharp political satire illustrated throughout by Kyle Baker. The cover sets the tone perfectly — a crowd of exaggerated caricatures clusters around a looming, scowling white-haired authority figure, while fighter jets streak across a hazy cityscape backdrop, suggesting a nation on the brink of something absurd and contentious. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. called it "brilliant, biting, and witty," and Baker's kinetic, rubber-faced cartooning makes it clear this 2004 graphic novel earns every word of that praise.