Member Reviews

This adventurous graphic novel is all about people who sought to define freedom in their own special ways. All the self-made colonies, micronations, and/or groups of people wanted one thing: a better society. I absolutely loved reading about these moments in history and learning so many new facts. I believe this would appeal to high school students and definitely adults who are looking to make a difference and/or be inspired. The graphic novel aspect makes this book appealing and made it hard to put this book down.

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This is a great and informative book for all ages. The Owl is adorable. I like the graphic novel format. It teaches about micro-nations. Some that are gone and some that are still around!

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If you're a fan of weird history facts, this is the book for you. Warner and Dam have collected stories of micronations and fringe societies. Each story is fairly short, easily digestible in short bursts. It's also very readable. Each story is a narrative, making it a collection of little stories. It's organized thematically, based on how/why the community was founded and why it failed. As a bonus, the whole thing is illustrated. A book I'd easily recommend.

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This was an interesting book for a certain specific audience. I thought the concept was pretty cool - brief stories of people who worked to make their dreams a reality, all in graphic novel format. The illustrations were well done and really colorful, but some of the stories lacked depth to me. Also, the graphic novel format just didn’t work for me personally and I felt that each page seemed a little busy. Either way, it was neat to see these stories presented in a different medium than words on a page. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

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The concept of this book-- quick histories of people who withdrew from governments or society to follow their own vision of what the world should be-- is a fascinating idea. I also liked how the author structured it into five sections based on concept: artistic visions versus utopias versus separatist states, etc. The art was colorful and clear enough to move things along at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, the stories of the communities and states themselves were all too brief to convey anything beyond the barest of outlines and facts. Even the most serious of situations, such as child abuse and assassination attempts, were afforded no more than a mention in a panel or two. An interesting collection of true stories, but this book won't satiate any but the most casual interest.

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Riveting history unfolds in bright graphic detail. I could not put this book down and it is leading me to research some of the people and places further.

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Beautiful illustrations with a lot of little known history facts that intrigue me. I felt that they didn't leave enough pages to tie it all together and that each story didn't lead one directly to the overall message.

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So very interesting and presented in a way that is accessible to readers who may otherwise not choose to learn more about this topic.

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What child or young adult doesn't dream about changing the world? I would recommend social studies teachers pair this book with Paul Fleischman's Weslandia and How to Build Your Own Country by Valerie Wyatt to create a unit that would engage students on many levels. The graphic format is the perfect medium for drawing in the reluctant learner, especially those frustrated with the world the way it is now.

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I want to go where the vegan lesbians are.

** Trigger warning for sexual violence against women and children. **

“A community founded in upstate New York in 1848 and based on a radical reimagining of society, marriage and child rearing…ended up being one of the world’s largest purveyors of cutlery and tableware.”

Written by Andy Warner and illustrated by Sofie Louise Dam, THIS LAND IS MY LAND highlights thirty self-made or experimental communities, loosely falling into one of the following categories:
1 – Intentional communities: “Groups of people who chose to radically remake their social structures.”
2 – Micronations: “Brief histories of the tiny, unrecognized nations of the world.”
3 – Failed utopias: “The bigger the experiment, the harder it falls.”
4 – Visionary environments: “Stories of wonderful and bizarre places where individuals make their visions reality.”
5 – Strange dreams: “Proposals, plans, and schemes, never brought to pass.”

Before visions of radical utopias start swimming through your head (they sure did mine), know that the places featured here range from large-scale art projects created by a single individual (Nek Chand’s Rock Garden in India; Ra Paulette’s Caves in New Mexico; Nevada’s Thunder Mountain Monument); to large, sprawling – if unusual – homes, again built for a single person or family (Freedom Cove, off the coast of Vancouver; Arizona Mystery Castle); to honest-to-goodness intentional communities and communes – one of them even traveling (The Van Dykes).

Among my favorites are the communities and nations created by people seeking to escape oppression and persecution. Chief among these is Libertatia, a city-state established in a bay in Madagascar by a French pirate and a Dominican priest in the 1600s. The crew of the Victoire made a habit of attacking slaving ships, freeing the kidnapped human cargo, and then splitting the bounty equally between all. Newly freed slaves were welcome to join the crew if they desired. Libertatia became their permanent, democratic, anti-authoritarian settlement. At least, if you believe the 1724 book A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE PYRATES; there is no physical evidence of the colony’s existence today. (I want to believe.)

Sadly, many of these larger communities were either established as tax havens (libertarians seem to be especially egregious offenders here) or as a means for the founders (men, always) to rape and traffic women and children. (You’ll never look at Oneida flatware the same way again. And I was rooting for you up until the child rape, Noyes.) I really would have loved to have seen more positive examples, but there you go. People suck more than they don’t.

One cool thing: of those sites still in existence, many are open to tourists. The Arizona Mystery Castle seems like a pretty rad vacation destination (but not in the summer, obvs).

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First thing of note is that this ARC had a giant “X” and copyright watermark through every single page, so that was pretty distracting. I get it, you don’t want your work pirated and copied by people, but the giant “X” that covered the entire page, on top of the giant watermark in the center of every single page, was not only distracting, it also made it really difficult to judge the art and read certain panels. There were panels in the center of some pages where I just couldn't read entire sentences. Just wanted to note that before I begin.

I appreciated the pages (4) in the beginning that serve as kind of Content/Chapters pages. They're unique and useful. Reminds me of the joy I get from reading books that include a map and other similar charts/graphs. The book contains sections on Intentional Communities, Micronations, Failed Utopias, Visionary Environments, and Strange Dreams. Each section contained new information that I’m glad I was able to learn about in such an engaging and colorful comic format.

The Contents pages also go along nicely with the art and colors for this book, which were beautiful in a simple way. I think this would be a great way to teach kids about history. The illustrations are youthful and it makes learning entertaining. I definitely learned a lot. I was particularly surprised by all of the micronations. Very interesting stuff.

The “New Atlantis” chapter starts with “It doesn’t take a lot to create your own country. One of the earliest known micronations was founded on bird droppings by a Nobel Laureate’s brother.” Yes, please, tell me more! (It was Leicester Hemingway, by the way. Ernest Hemingway’s brother, which makes it so much better in my opinion). Leicester founded a country in the middle of the ocean by basically creating a giant raft anchored down, and, of course, he named his country New Atlantis. It was legal because there was a law stating that you could claim an “island” as long as it had bird droppings on it. Comical and fascinating. This was my favorite story in the micronations section, and I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before.
I think my second favorite in that section might be the story of Ladonia. I won’t spoil it, but I’ll say this artist guy was awesome and possibly a little cuckoo.

One of the more recent micronations, Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, has a great chapter in this book too. Seriously fascinating stuff.

The failed Utopias section was informative and surprising as well, particularly the chapter on Tama-Re. Who doesn’t love a tale about a dude who thought he was an alien sent here to save the planet? (I would say the planet he said he was from, but I can’t quite make it out behind the watermark). It’s hilarious that he claimed the “promised land” was in Georgia, my state, a state that is most definitely not enlightened. I might want to find the site of these pyramids he had his followers build though. But… apparently this dude Tama-Re was not a good guy, so maybe I wouldn’t want to see where those pyramids were after all. All of this Tama-Re stuff ended in 2002 by the way, so this was, surprisingly, pretty recent.

The authors of this graphic novel definitely knew what they were doing. There’s some obvious skill here, on every single page. I would read more books by these authors for sure.

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This Land is My Land is a very interesting look at the formation of communities in graphic novel format. It is a very innovative look at explaining what can sometimes be a difficult concept. I do think that this book will have a very niche audience, and it is difficult to fully convey all that this book really includes.


I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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What an amazing book. This has all sorts of experimental communities that were founded, some of which are still around, some of which are long gone. Each of these communities is described, and story told about, in graphic novel format, making each story very accessible.

There is Freetown Christiania, a community formed in Copenhagen on the land of a disued army based, back in the 1970s. It is still around.

Or the Van Dykes, which was more of a concept, of lesbians, all called Van Dyke, who traveled aorund together.

Each story is amazing in itself, and lots of fun to read about. And yes, Sealand, the offshore rig that was declared its own country, is there as well, as well as another off shore rig, Rose Island, which was destroyed by the Italians when they took it back.

Great way to learn about what lengths peopole go to to have their own place away from the government.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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I really enjoyed this book and its journey through self-made communities. The graphic novel approach and art style helps bolster the individuality message found in the descriptions of the communities. Some of my favorite communities presented were Libertatia (a pirate community on Madagascar), Auroville (a community in India built on compassion), and Ra Paulette's Caves (a cave community in New Mexico). Readers will find hope, ideas, and even some ideas that failed, but the drive to make something better comes through loud and clear in each story.

Thank you NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy.

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I found this book to be really interesting starting with the title since I did not know what a micro nation was or that they even excisted. I love the opening page where there is an owl narrating about how people are down because of politics and people longing for better worlds and more beauty. The book is told through graphic novel form and I think that it adds to the book.

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