David B.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated after World War I, control of the Adriatic port of Fiume (now Rieka, Croatia) was hotly disputed. Enter "Pirate King" Gabriele d'Annunzio, an Italian poet who stormed the city with 3,000 Italian nationalists. D'Annunzio declared Fiume a free republic and himself commander. He envisioned a utopian city-state, but Fiume quickly became a surreal center of...

Best of Enemies is surely destined to stand alongside Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis as a graphic history of the Middle East. A must-read for anyone interested in learning, or teaching, about the region. - Mark Levine, professor of history at UC-Irvine and author of Heavy Metal Islam In the third volume of their graphic history of US and Middle East relations,...