Duncan Heath

Given the strength and limitations of the documentary comix form, this is a good introduction to the range of movements across the arts and sciences that can be brought together under the rubric of Romanticism. The text is admirably clear, and while operating a very high level of abstraction in order to cover the breadth of material, nonetheless provides enough concrete historical and biographical detail to give the reader some real knowledge. I actually learned some new things, and enjoyed the refresher on some things more familiar. My one major complaint concerns some graphics design choices. While most of the drawings were engaging and sometimes even informative, when the book discusses the important contributions of landscape artists, the photographic reproduction of key works is often of such low resolution as to be completely indistinct. Obviously the format of these books will not allow high-quality reproduction of art, but the graphics designer should acknowledge the limits of the form and find some other way to visually represent such artworks within in the low-res black and white format.… (mere)