"In this powerful and captivating graphic novel, Winick, a professional cartoonist and cast member of MTV's The Real World 3: San Francisco, pays tribute to his Real World housemate and friend Pedro Zamora, an AIDS activist and educator who died of the disease in 1994. Striking just the right balance of cool and forthrightness sure to attract a broad cross section of teens, twenty-somethings and beyond, Winick describes the special bond he developed with Zamora and shares some of his own journey to enlightenment about AIDS awareness. From Winick's initial preconceptions about the disease to the ultimate moments of heartbreaking loss, the author bravely invites readers into a life-altering experience. The result is never mawkish: Winick speaks of his friend not with otherworldly awe, but with palpable love and warmth and profound admiration . . . Winick imbues deceptively simple black-and-white comic-strip art with a full spectrum of emotion, and his approach is particularly adept at conveying Zamora's mind-set . . . Throughout, Winick depicts Zamora as a vital force, a tireless teacher using frank language to relate facts about how people contract the virus that causes AIDS, how they can prevent it and how they can live with it. An innovative and accessible approach to a difficult subject."—Publishers Weekly

"When Americans think of Dolley Madison, we tend to recall her legendary response to the British invasion of Washington in 1814: fleeing the White House ahead of the oncoming troops, carting off official papers and a portrait of George Washington. Appropriately, then, Catherine Allgor, who teaches at the University of California, Riverside, begins A Perfect Union, her delightful and discerning biography, with that very scene . . . In this evocative study a remarkable woman, creator of the 'first lady' role, comes vividly to life."—Mary Beth Norton, The New York Times Book Review