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The Invisible War: A Tale on Two Scales (Ailsa Wild & Jeremy Barr, illus by Ben Hutchings, Scale Free Network)

How much history and science can a reader learn from a graphic novel? This new art-science offering from publisher Scale Free Network suggests quite a lot! The Invisible War is graphic novel that introduces readers to both the microbiology of our gut and life on the Western Front during World War I. It covers several weeks in the life of Australian nurse Sister Annie Barnaby at a British casualty clearing station on the River Somme, just a few kilometres from the trenches at Poziéres. The horrors of trench warfare (artillery, bayonets and gas attacks) is juxtaposed with the assault on Barnaby’s gut from the ‘Shiga gang’ or Shigella dysenteriae, the bacterium responsible for dysentery. The authors dramatically illustrate this hidden world of microbes, while further encouraging curiosity about the associated science and history. The story is also supported by an illuminating appendix. The Invisible War is a welcome addition to the small, but possibly growing, group of graphic novels underpinned by quality science and history reporting. It is well executed and recommended to those who favour unconventional learning.

Kevin Orrman-Rossiter is a freelance writer and book-reviewer, specialising in the historical and philosophical impacts of science

 

Category: Reviews