First you march, then you run. From the #1 bestselling, award-winning team behind the March trilogy comes Run, the conclusion to their groundbreaking graphic novel series—now in paperback
“In sharing my story, it is my hope that a new generation will be inspired by Run to actively participate in the democratic process and help build a more perfect Union here in America.”
—Congressman John Lewis
To John Lewis, the civil rights movement came to an end with the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965. But that was after more than five years as one of the preeminent figures of the movement, leading sit-in protests and fighting segregation on interstate busways as an original Freedom Rider. It was after becoming chairman of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and being the youngest speaker at the March on Washington. It was after helping organize the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the ensuing delegate challenge at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. And after coleading the march from Selma to Montgomery on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
All too often, the depiction of history ends with a great victory. But Lewis knew all too well that victories are just the beginning. In Run, Lewis and longtime collaborator Andrew Aydin reteamed with Nate Powell—the award-winning illustrator of the March trilogy—and were joined by L. Fury, who made an astonishing graphic novel debut to tell this often-overlooked chapter of civil rights history.
Picking up after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, Run opens with Lewis and his colleagues facing another arrest as the Ku Klux Klan prepares their largest hooded march in years. Meticulously researched and brought to life in stunning visual detail, Lewis recounts the highs and lows of a movement fighting to harness their hard-won legal protections to become an electoral force as the Vietnam War consumes the American landscape—all while the forces of white supremacy gather to mount a decades-long struggle to destroy the dream of the “Beloved Community” that Lewis, Dr. King, and so many others worked to build.
Urgently relevant for those who seek to understand American political conflict, Run has become required reading alongside the March trilogy—the first and only graphic novel to win the National Book Award.
Praise
“This worthy successor to the late Congressman Lewis’s March graphic memoir trilogy picks up in the civil rights leader’s life during the 1960s counterculture revolution…This living history gives faces and voices to the legends of the civil rights era and connects their struggles to the present; the police brutality, voter suppression tactics, and segregationist politics of the 1960s are not so different from those Lewis was still making “good trouble” against at the time of his death in 2020. Lewis’s stunning American story and legacy lives on in these pages.”Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
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“This is a fantastic choice for classrooms… will speak powerfully to anyone trying to make sense of their own values in the face of wider movements and calls to action.”Booklist, STARRED Review
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“An intimate, powerfully revealing look at a crucial, complex time, through the eyes of a true American hero.”Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review
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“As informative and essential an addition to the nonfiction comic canon as its much-lauded predecessors.”The Horn Book, STARRED Review
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"Extensive biographical, reference, and artistic notes in the back matter will illuminate casual and student readers alike. Just as powerful as the ‘March’ trilogy, this paean to ‘nonviolent soldiers’ is principled, tragic, and stirring."School Library Journal, STARRED Review
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"Run is another indispensable chronicle of the life and work of one of 20th-century America’s most exceptional figures, but it’s also a mission statement for the work yet to come.”BookPage, STARRED Review
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“There’s a timeliness to Run, a reminder that the efforts to keep prospective voters from casting their ballots that are so much in the headlines these days are nothing new. It turns out the animus that drives so much of our nation’s history is well suited to this form.”The New York Times
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“Many of the moments in Run speak to related struggles today… Lewis wanted the lessons of the movement to outlive him.”The Washington Post
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“The legacy of civil rights icon John Lewis lives on in Run: Book One.”TIME
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“Run puts down a clear marker for future historians that is both true to Lewis’s vision and meticulously researched. Run… shows the experience of Aydin and his team as visual storytellers and the strength of Abrams ComicArts as a “comics-native” literary imprint in supporting this kind of work.”Forbes
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“Run is a startlingly relevant work of art that shines a light on elements of the civil rights movement that do not receive much attention, and shows how the struggle continues even to this day.”ScreenRant
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“It is a powerful account of a pivotal moment… The artful combination of text and images paints a harrowing picture of the violence that continued to rock the movement.”The Atlanta Journal Constitution
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“Run is a worthy successor to March, and in a way, it is almost a more vital work…”Comic Book Resources
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