Paul Bunyan: The Invention of an American Legend: A TOON Graphic

Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack, and his blue ox are the product of corporate marketing by a highly industrialized industry, created as an advertising ploy to capture the imagination and paper over the seizure of homeland from First Peoples.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 48 pages
Publication date: 18 August 2023
Publisher: Astra Publishing House

Few people are aware of the fact that Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack, and his blue ox are the result of corporate marketing by a highly industrialized industry. Cartoonist NOAH VAN SCIVER depicts the myth-making process as real-life marketing man extraordinaire W.B. Laughead spins ever more wondrous tall tales. Van Sciver's story is framed by rich contributions from contemporary Native artists and storytellers with a very different connection to the land that the Bunyan myths often conceal. Readers will see how a lumberjack hero, a quintessential American fantasy, captures the imagination but also serves to paper over the seizure of homeland from First Peoples and the laying bare of America's northern forests. It's a tall tale with deep roots... in profit-making!

Few people are aware of the fact that Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack, and his blue ox are the result of corporate marketing by a highly industrialized industry. Cartoonist NOAH VAN SCIVER depicts the myth-making process as real-life marketing man extraordinaire W.B. Laughead spins ever more wondrous tall tales. Van Sciver's story is framed by rich contributions from contemporary Native artists and storytellers with a very different connection to the land that the Bunyan myths often conceal. Readers will see how a lumberjack hero, a quintessential American fantasy, captures the imagination but also serves to paper over the seizure of homeland from First Peoples and the laying bare of America's northern forests. It's a tall tale with deep roots... in profit-making!

Dimension: 254 x 197 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781662665233