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The Book of Genocides
In this haunting graphic narrative, an award-winning writer, artist, and descendant of genocide survivors brings history’s darkest horrors to life, calling on us to remember, repair, and resist.
The Book of Genocides is a haunting graphic narrative that compels readers to confront the most harrowing chapters of human history not as distant events but as visceral experiences. Dana Mashoian Walrath covers ten major atrocities across five centuries: the mass slaughter of the First Peoples of the Americas, the brutalization of Black Americans, the devastation of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian killing fields, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the deadly persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar, and the genocide in Gaza.
Walrath makes plain that the purpose of genocide is always a land grab, and its central apparatus is dehumanization: each chapter delves into how dehumanization operates, not just through violence but through the political and intellectual systems that enable it. The book’s unique interactive design allows readers to reshape images of victims into grotesque forms mirroring the mental mechanisms of dehumanization. With each page turn, the victims’ humanity is restored, making their suffering undeniable.
The Book of Genocides is an unsettling experience, shot through with the emotional gravity of horrific events―not just historical memories but ongoing realities, painful truths that shape our world and demand our action.
The Book of Genocides is a haunting graphic narrative that compels readers to confront the most harrowing chapters of human history not as distant events but as visceral experiences. Dana Mashoian Walrath covers ten major atrocities across five centuries: the mass slaughter of the First Peoples of the Americas, the brutalization of Black Americans, the devastation of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian killing fields, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the deadly persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar, and the genocide in Gaza.
Walrath makes plain that the purpose of genocide is always a land grab, and its central apparatus is dehumanization: each chapter delves into how dehumanization operates, not just through violence but through the political and intellectual systems that enable it. The book’s unique interactive design allows readers to reshape images of victims into grotesque forms mirroring the mental mechanisms of dehumanization. With each page turn, the victims’ humanity is restored, making their suffering undeniable.
The Book of Genocides is an unsettling experience, shot through with the emotional gravity of horrific events―not just historical memories but ongoing realities, painful truths that shape our world and demand our action.
424 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2026
About the author
Dana Mashoian Walrath
1 book37 followersDana Mashoian Walrath is an award-winning cartoonist, writer, and anthropologist. An Armenian American, she weaves together her family’s history of survival, her training in anthropology, and a deep commitment to visual storytelling in The Book of Genocides, an immersive graphic history that traces ten genocides over five centuries and reveals the recurring patterns of dehumanization and land theft at their core.
She is also the author of Aliceheimer’s, an award winning graphic memoir on dementia, and Like Water on Stone, a verse novel about the Armenian Genocide. A MacDowell Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and Atlantic Fellow, Walrath has published work in The Nation, The Lancet, Slate, on public radio, and in numerous anthologies, including Menopause: A Comic Treatment—an Eisner Award–winning collection named one of The New York Times Best Graphic Novels of 2020.
She is also the author of Aliceheimer’s, an award winning graphic memoir on dementia, and Like Water on Stone, a verse novel about the Armenian Genocide. A MacDowell Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and Atlantic Fellow, Walrath has published work in The Nation, The Lancet, Slate, on public radio, and in numerous anthologies, including Menopause: A Comic Treatment—an Eisner Award–winning collection named one of The New York Times Best Graphic Novels of 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
thoughts
April 9, 2026hopefully I’ll get the arc. The book is very diverse in what it’ll discuss as it seems from the synopsis. Gaza, Bosnia, Armenia, the black people, the indigenous people, Myanmar, the holocaust, etc.
September 22, 2026
A beautiful and powerful account of ten genocides. As violence and conflict intensify around the world, this book helps us recognize the patterns—especially dehumanization and the abuse of power—that make mass violence possible. I worked on Persepolis and Art Spiegelman’s books in my Pantheon/Knopf days and this book helps us understand the world in the same simple but profound way.
September 10, 2026
Haunting. A must read.
Read
July 9, 2026Had the privilege of interviewing the author of this devastating graphic history this spring for Publisher's Weekly. It's just a brief Q&A but hopefully readers will find it enlightening. Link below. Highly recommend this book, with the obvious caveat that its subject matter is brutal and heartbreaking.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...
September 8, 2026
This is very good. I learned a considerable amount and it is useful to have all this mostly-right-to-the-point information is one place, and easily accessible. There's a lot I could say, but all of my comments feel shallow compared to gravity of the topic.
Should you read it? Yes. But, all my close friends are so glad I am done reading this book.
It caused me to think (and I think it is clear that the author thought) about the various things that made each situation different and unique. I won't share those kinds of things here -- too vile, feels prurient here.
One thing I will say is, it made me think about how, in college, I was very upset about the genocide in Sudan (not mentioned in this book, incidentally) and involved in awareness campaigns about it. But what did I even know, really, about why it was happening, and what was going on. Even in college I didn't know that what was happening in Palestine was a genocide, which of course it was, even then.
I knew about Rwanda in high school (I remember when Hotel Rwanda came out; I was like, I am DEFINITELY NOT seeing that), but I don't think I understand much about it, other than that, like all 'wars', it was about money, and rich people convincing poor people to kill each other on their behalf. I had, I think, heard of the Bosnian genocide as well, but I don't think I knew much about it, either.
I guess my point is, both of those had taken place in my lifetime, and I don't think I really understood even that. What that meant. Good thing I never saw the movie, har har.
And, there is, of course, the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya, which the book made me realize I don't think of very often. I certainly didn't have any real understanding of it before I read this book. Also, the way the Armenian genocide is actually still going on right now in (specifically) Azerbaijan.
The illustrations are very good, and affecting. It's nice the different styles and techniques the author uses. You can tell the author was digesting these events in their cultural context, and they help you digest too -- they space out and organize the information well, making it easier to take in and process, giving the reader time (mental space) to think about and process the words they have read, and/or to contextualize the words you are about to read.
I like the call to action (spoiler, I suppose, in a way), to cut the pages along the dotted lines of each 'individual', in between each genocide, and the way this affected the user-experience of the book - an effective mechanism.
Oh, also I liked learning about Lemkin and the history of the word genocide and the term ethnic cleansing.
I'm going to give this 5 stars, even though I found parts of it slightly more confusing than they needed to be.
Should you read this book? Yes, you probably should.
Should you read it? Yes. But, all my close friends are so glad I am done reading this book.
It caused me to think (and I think it is clear that the author thought) about the various things that made each situation different and unique. I won't share those kinds of things here -- too vile, feels prurient here.
One thing I will say is, it made me think about how, in college, I was very upset about the genocide in Sudan (not mentioned in this book, incidentally) and involved in awareness campaigns about it. But what did I even know, really, about why it was happening, and what was going on. Even in college I didn't know that what was happening in Palestine was a genocide, which of course it was, even then.
I knew about Rwanda in high school (I remember when Hotel Rwanda came out; I was like, I am DEFINITELY NOT seeing that), but I don't think I understand much about it, other than that, like all 'wars', it was about money, and rich people convincing poor people to kill each other on their behalf. I had, I think, heard of the Bosnian genocide as well, but I don't think I knew much about it, either.
I guess my point is, both of those had taken place in my lifetime, and I don't think I really understood even that. What that meant. Good thing I never saw the movie, har har.
And, there is, of course, the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya, which the book made me realize I don't think of very often. I certainly didn't have any real understanding of it before I read this book. Also, the way the Armenian genocide is actually still going on right now in (specifically) Azerbaijan.
The illustrations are very good, and affecting. It's nice the different styles and techniques the author uses. You can tell the author was digesting these events in their cultural context, and they help you digest too -- they space out and organize the information well, making it easier to take in and process, giving the reader time (mental space) to think about and process the words they have read, and/or to contextualize the words you are about to read.
I like the call to action (spoiler, I suppose, in a way), to cut the pages along the dotted lines of each 'individual', in between each genocide, and the way this affected the user-experience of the book - an effective mechanism.
Oh, also I liked learning about Lemkin and the history of the word genocide and the term ethnic cleansing.
I'm going to give this 5 stars, even though I found parts of it slightly more confusing than they needed to be.
Should you read this book? Yes, you probably should.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
This was a very thoughtfully designed book. It covers ten different genocides, making the book serve as both an introduction to these histories and a reminder of why they must continue to be remembered.
One of the things that stood out to me was the artwork, which combines collage, paintings, and pencil drawings to create a wide variety of visual styles. I also thought the 'turn-a-flap' elements were a creative idea I haven't seen often. Unfortunately, since I read a digital review copy, I wasn't able to experience those interactive elements as they were intended.
My two favorite parts of the book were the blackout poetry that accompanied the 'turn-a-flap' sections, which added an extra emotional layer to the historical information, and the 'Keep Reading' shelf at the end. Seeing recommendations like Maus, Caste, and On Tyranny on that shelf was a thoughtful touch and a great opportunity for deeper exploration on this subject topic.
One of the things that stood out to me was the artwork, which combines collage, paintings, and pencil drawings to create a wide variety of visual styles. I also thought the 'turn-a-flap' elements were a creative idea I haven't seen often. Unfortunately, since I read a digital review copy, I wasn't able to experience those interactive elements as they were intended.
My two favorite parts of the book were the blackout poetry that accompanied the 'turn-a-flap' sections, which added an extra emotional layer to the historical information, and the 'Keep Reading' shelf at the end. Seeing recommendations like Maus, Caste, and On Tyranny on that shelf was a thoughtful touch and a great opportunity for deeper exploration on this subject topic.
September 19, 2026
I had the opportunity to learn about The Book of Genocides, and it immediately stood out as an ambitious and visually distinctive graphic nonfiction work that approaches difficult historical subjects through both narrative and interactive art. The book examines ten major atrocities across different periods and regions, while its design uses visual transformation to explore dehumanization and the restoration of victims’ humanity. With 4.78 stars from 18 ratings and 7 reviews on Goodreads following its September 7, 2026 publication, the book already has a strong early reader response. That creates an opportunity to develop its Goodreads visibility among readers of history, graphic nonfiction, human-rights literature, educators, librarians, and audiences interested in serious works that connect historical memory with contemporary discussion.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is a beautiful and brutal book that teaches while also expressing the horrors of genocides in a really creative, phenomenal way. Best read in small doses.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews