The Complete Maus – Spiegelman Art (2003)

Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Complete Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive: the Nazis are cats and the Jews mice. This startling form shocks readers out of any lingering sense of familiarity and draws them closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father, as they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits against the backdrop of the guilt of survival. This haunting tale within a tale is a story not only of Vladek’s survival, but also of the children who survive the survivors. It studies the bloody pawprints of history and explores their meaning for all of us. This definitive combined edition includes both Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale and Maus II. Art Spiegelman is a contributing editor and artist for The New Yorker; his drawings and prints have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. His other books include Breakdowns: From Maus to Now, The Wild Party, Open Me, I’m a Dog, Jack Cole and Plastic Man, In the Shadow of No Towers, Jack and the Box and MetaMaus. He lives in New York.