"Insecure endings, numerous origins, contested evidence, imaginative possibilities, oscillating chronologies,differing interpretations. This is the stuff of Graphic Histories of Africa, an inspirational compilation, in comic form, of stories of slavery, colonialism and postcolonial worlds. As in all good histories it open pasts to creative critical understandings where dogma is constantly under threat. This volume draws on for inspiration Art Spiegelman’s wonderful Maus, explicitly in some of the illustrative techniques employed and implicitly in its disputed and disputable historical narratives and memories. The disjointed comic form, with its balloon enclosed staccato texts and where associations are made through the graphic flows, grounds history as process, continually being re-made as multiple pasts in the present. It will definitely find a prominent place in my comic collection, alongside Watchmen, Howard the Duck, Crossroads, The Saga of the Swamp Thing, Berlin, Abina and the Important Men, The Ballad of Halo Jones and Barefoot Gen (and of course Maus)." — Professor Leslie Witz, Emeritus Professor of History, Department of Historical Studies, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

"Throughout my career, I have tried to write history in ways that remain faithful to scholarly rigor while also being accessible to the very communities who entrusted me with their stories. Too often, academic history speaks only to other academics. Graphic history changes that equation. It reminds us that accessibility is not the enemy of complexity—it is one of its greatest allies. Operation Legacy and Other Stories is a triumph. Trevor Getz, Audra Diptée, and their extraordinary collaborators demonstrate that some of the most difficult subjects in African history—slavery, colonialism, resistance, memory, and historical justice—can be rendered with intellectual sophistication, emotional power, and stunning visual artistry.

The artwork is nothing short of breathtaking. Every panel deepens the historical narrative, inviting readers not simply to learn the past but to inhabit it. These illustrations do far more than accompany the text; they become historical arguments in their own right, making visible emotions, relationships, violence, resilience, and humanity that words alone often struggle to capture. From Olaudah Equiano's unforgettable testimony against the Atlantic slave trade, to Haddis Alemayehu's brilliant allegorical dismantling of colonial ideology through the kingdoms of cats and mice, to the extraordinary recovery of Britain's hidden colonial violence in Kenya, each story demonstrates how history continues to shape our present.

This is not simply an outstanding graphic history. It is a masterclass in public scholarship. It reminds us that history is at its most powerful when it reaches beyond the academy, invites new audiences into conversation, and makes the past impossible to ignore. Every historian should read this book. Every teacher should teach it. And every student deserves the opportunity to discover African history through its pages." — Nwando Achebe, University Distinguished Professor and Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History, Michigan State University