Although I am not Jewish I feel the same as the Jews that Holocaust books MUST be read. I was horrified to learn recently that a 37-year-old cousin did not know what a fascist was. This is NOT okay. Already thing are happening in the U.S. that mirror what happened in Germany before World War II, but that is not what you will find in this book.

What you will find in this book is the story from one man's experience and memory. It is both touchingly and brutally honest, written by the son of Holocaust survivors -- the story told to him only by his father.

Spiegelman's use of the comic media to draw Jews as mice, Nazis as cats, Poles as Pigs, French as Frogs, Americans as Dogs and the Swiss as Elk was ingenious. There are some VERY disturbing things that happen in this story which come as no surprise to those who have read other books on the Holocaust, and which make it so difficult to read more on the subject. Somehow reading about it through the comic medium creates an artificial distance from the topic that makes it easier to bear.

I read the whole thing in one day -- would have taken longer if I did not dedicate myself to reading the entire day, but still, that is not bad. It was "just right." I also found the depictions of some of his father's neuroses depicted as very interesting. He sure hated to spend money, but no matter how much money he had you just can't blame him when you see what he has gone through.

Good book. I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up.

As a Jew Living in Israel, holocaust related books are important to read, but it's hard to do it actually. I can remember several holocaust-era semi-biographic novels which are great but those are the exceptions. Most of the books are a bit bothersome though true.
Maus just captured me.I consider it one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It was just breath-taking, adding to that the fact that this was my first graphic novel ever, not to say first comic ever.
I gave it to my wife, her parents, brother and so on. The book came back to me after 6 month. all worn out.
The book touched me in the deepest levels, and was able to do what many other holocaust books tried to do and failed. Take you inside one of the the darkest eras of human kind. You NEED to read to. You have to read it.

Putting something as unbelievably tragic and indescribable as the Holocaust into comic book form with the Jews portrayed as mice and the Nazis as cats sounds as kitschy as it gets and even a little insulting. But Art Spiegelman manages to pull it off. The Nazi's labelling of Jews as "vermin" puts the allegory on a new level with each nationality represented by a different animal. The story is incredibly personal weaving in and out of WWII Poland and the author struggling with his irritable father in 1980s America. It also dabbles in the metafictional, referencing other comics Spiegelman has done, his mother's suicide, and his own disbelief that writing about the Holocaust will change anything, especially after so many books and films have already addressed the subject. Don't be fooled by the comic appearance. Spiegelman takes the graphic novel into new territory with "Maus." Whether or not you read comics, this is a stunning testament to survival, forgiveness, and the human spirit.

excellent book. i already had it in softcover but the pages began coming out; very nice to have it in hardcover. excellent service; received the book in perfect condition in only a few days.

This set of books was a read for our book club. It is a poignant, revealing look at the holocaust. Spiegelman maintains the respect that is due when discussing the holocaust and it's many victims; while still conveying a very personal story. It amazed me how graphic and detailed the story could be told through the use of characters/animals. You would think there would be a certain detachment when using animals to portray humans, when in fact it was a very poignant, personal, private story of survival. The story makes you re-think your views on survival, and what it really means to survive. I highly recommend this set of books.

Elegant and bittersweet. Humorous and horrifying. Astonishing original and intuitive. The author poured his soul and marrow into interpreting the nightmare his parents endured and survived, showing also that that the genocide of WWII continued its reach far past 1945.

Schools are beginning to assign this work as serious literature worthy of serious study, which it is. The "comic book" approach is highly accessible, yet retains a great deal of subtlety and nuance in illustrating (literally and figuratively) the far-reach psychological impacts wrought by the holocaust.

The book has also advanced the state of comic books from the status of children's pap toward a medium with power and artistic merit for all ages.

Spiegelman offers an intensely personal and touching encounter of one man's perspective of the Holocaust. His unique portrayal of the characters might seem arbitrarily comical on the surface offer a distinct closeness and newness of perspective never before offered by a Holocaust survival story. The graphic novel is a perfect medium for expressing the troubled yet sincere relationship between father and son and the honestly-plaited story of survival. This work is simply outstanding and a must read for anyone remotely interested in graphic novels.

Boy, can I be a dope sometimes!

I've resisted reading Art Spiegelman's Maus for years. There was something about the holocaust turned into a comic that set my teeth on edge. It wasn't that I didn't know that lots of people whom I respect thought Spiegelman's work a masterpiece, or that several of my fellow professors had actually used Maus as a text in various courses (much less that the book won a Pulitzer!). It was just that I couldn't bring myself to reconcile the theme (genocide) with the genre (comics).

Well, I was a dope. I've learned a lot about the genre since then (although I wish we had more appropriate titles for it than "comics" or "graphic novel"), and I've discovered that the genre is perfectly capable of handling heavy themes (Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner's Our Cancer Year or Joe Sacco's books on Bosnia and Palestine are perfect examples). So I've spent the last week reading Spiegelman's Maus.

Oh my. Who could've imagined that the unclassifiable tragedy of the holocaust could've been so poignantly, so thoughtfully, expressed? The story line and the drawings are incredible, succeeding in saying entire volumes in the abbreviated way characteristic of this genre. It astounds me that so much can be said in just a few words and "simple" drawings. No doubt years of thought and mountains of draft went into such craftsmanship. One is reminded of how much effort it takes to write good poetry.

One of the best features of Maus is that Spiegelman, in telling the story of his parents' ordeal through the story of his troubled relationship with his survivor father, keeps the holocaust in the present instead of relegating it to a distant past. The father Vladek's memories of the horrific past bleed into the normalcy of the present. One of the most chilling examples of this temporal fluidity is found in Volume 2 (p. 79). Vladek, Art, and Art's wife Francoise are driving through some wooded areas on their way to a supermarket. Vladek is telling the story of four young girls who were hanged at Auschwitz. One of the panels comprising this segment is an overhead shot of the car containing Vladek, Art, and Francoise as they drive under a canopy of tree branches. From the branches we see four sets of legs and feet dangling. The legs have the characteristic striped pants of Auschwitz inmates. The power of Vladek's memory invades the present.

And indeed this is one of the major themes of the book. Vladek, who infuriates Art with his stinginess, his continuous tension and nervousness, and his constant complaining about everything, is who he is because the horror of the past is always with him. He can't shake it, and neither can his son Art. Indeed, the theme of memory percolates throughout the book: unwanted present memories, yearned for lost memories (exemplified by Vladek's destruction of the diaries written by Art's mother, Anje).

That's one of the reasons this book is the masterpiece it is. It isn't just a several-layered story. It's also an implicit archaeology of memory that, layer by layer, uncovers what it means to be a creature capable of both remembering and forgetting.

Despite the approachable medium of the grpahic novel, Maus is an intense experience that I think everyone should read. This novel is NOT for minors.

I'm Jewish--and 72 years old--but my families have been here for several generations, so I didn't have to experience any of it, except from a great distance (and as a 5 to 10 year old). I only recently became aware that some Jews will not read any book, or see and film, relating to the Holocaust,--because they can't stand to.

O.K. Maybe Maus isn't the best place to start. But for those of us who are curious as to how it really was, without any sugar coating, and without having our noses rubbed in it, it is very good. We do not have to SMELL or TASTE the camps; we do not have to see rotting corpses, mice do not have very expressive faces. It is the story of a survivor--through no fault, he stresses, of his own!--told in American speech, frequently organized in Yiddish word order, frequently punctuated by Spiegelman's own speech, and that of his wife. We learn, from a very personal story, of everything that happened to Art's father, without having to be afraid of turning the page. It is very honest. He does indeed "bleed history." And sometimes the blood is funny as well.

There is never any question of "Well, why didn't they get out, while they could?" You do what your country tells you to do, and by the time you realize you are a prisoner of war (Art's father was briefly in the Polish army), and that this involves being treated like a non-human, it's too late.

Vladek is very good at "organizing" things--eggs, chocolate, seeing his wife, finding hiding places--but had he once been caught by the wrong people, at the wrong time, with thre wrong things in his hands or speaking to the wrong people about the wrong things, there would be no Art Spiegelman.

"I was friendly to everyone--the prisoners, the Kapos, the Nazis--if you want to stay alive, it's good to be friendly."

A man, who was one of the first Allies to see Belsen-Belsen, nobody knowing what to expect, says that there were piles and piles of corpses, and on top of them, sometimes under them, were a few semi-living human beings. The first thing many of these tried to do, he says, stifling a sob, was to free their hands, and raise two fingers, "they tried to do the victory thing, you know," he says, wiping tears from his eyes. "Sorry," he says. This man is apologizing for crying at the memory of his first sight of Belsen-Belsen.

But somehow, it is very important that Spiegelman does not cry. A good graphic book should not cry, It should report. This one does.

Not only did I have an Uncle who lived through the Shoah, but I was lucky enough to grow-up in an area where many of them settled and brought up their children. It was never easy to listen to them speak of what they had went through, but it was important to listen. Many of them never got over it, and others totally blanked it out.

For better or worse, it will be the defining moment for the Jewish people until the next one. What you ask? The next one! That's right, it can happen again and probably will. Just like Germany, Austria and Hungary, five hundred years ago, when the Jewish People were living graciously in a society, they were brutally attacked and thrown out of Spain. The Spanish inquisition was no less destructive of the Spanish Jews than the Shoah was for European Jews.

Sadly, the post World War Two destruction of the Mediterranean and Asian Jews has been little explored. No one talks about how the two million Jews who lived in North Africa and the Middle East were forced out of their homes, and charged exorbitant 'exit' fees to be thrown out of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, etc. Communities that lasted for three thousand years, were obliterated in a few short decades. The story of "Maus" should be a warning to anyone who thinks it can't happen here.

Having studied and read many books on the Holocaust I think that Maus is unique and it is a book that anyone who wishes to learn about this appalling period in twentieth century history should read.
It is the story of Vladek Spiegelman's experiences in Nazi occupied Poland as told to his son Art who is an illustrator. What makes mouse stand out for me is the fact that it shows not only the after effects of the Holocaust on the survivors but also on their families born after the event. It is a brilliant insight into how people lived and survived this time in history and also how different survivors coped with it in different ways after the war's end.
Mr Spieglman has dealt with what is without doubt the most heinous crime against humanity ever in a way that does it great service, the fact that he uses graphic art to tell his story actually enhances what he has to say, it is a book that you will return to again and again if only to ask yourself, "How was such a thing possible?". Do not hesitate, if you have not read Maus then now is the time to purchase a copy, I highly recommend it.

Maus was just a great story. I really was amazed by how much I liked Maus after reading it. It's almost unbelievable to think that it's based off of a true story. I really cared for the main characters in this book. I thought Maus would be good, but I didn't expect it to be great. Other than Schindler's List, I can't think of a Holocaust story that was as effective and had more impact than Maus. Overall, just a great book.

I can't say enough about how great Spiegelman is at creating this story. It's a graphic novel (historical autobiographical comic book) that depicts not only his parents' struggles before and after the Holocaust, but it's a phenomenal sketch of his own efforts to make sense of it all.

He struggles to find the right images and words to tell his father's story and...his own. The reader is drawn into Art's struggle to understand his own fears, anger and apprehension about being the son that didn't die in the Holocaust (he would've had an older brother). I don't wanna give clues away if you haven't read it but it's great. I read it myself in college and use it with my 10th grade humanities students that are weary of Anne Frank being the only story.

It goes great with other books (I've used Friedrich, Night and Number the Stars as precursors), documentaries (like, "the Genocide Factor" or the MTV special about youth diaries of the holocaust), films (I use Schindler's list) and of course, field trips to your area holocaust museum.

As a special treat for students, when students write him...he writes back!

Here is why Maus is superior to Schindler's List as a means by which high school students can learn more about the Holocaust than the cursory examination it receives in many European history courses. In a film, the images speed by, as students sit there, open-mouthed. Students reading Maus, however, tend to linger as they absorb the astonishing amounts of information that Spiegelman can condense into a single frame. Look, for instance, at the way he depicts Vladek's family and in-laws gathered about the dinner table, unable to believe that anything terrible is about to befall them. They are drawn as if we (and their enemies) are watching them from the outside, and the more you look, the more the window mullions resemble bars. Or the way Anja, wearing her pig mask and desperate not to be detected as a Jew, cannot conceal her tail, which stretches behind her, while Vladek's (his disguise is more successful) does not. Even students who are not strong readers see and understand these things, and, in turn, talk about them. The intricacy of the drawings also guarantees that the teacher is not the sole possessor of information about the book, since often a student will spot details that others (including the teacher) did not see. Maus can help turn passive students, who may be overwhelmed or even made numb by the events depicted in films about the Holocaust, into active and engaged students. I,by the way, am an English teacher, and it is in English classes that my students read Maus.

Not just a comic. A very compelling and amazing story is illustrated in the book.

The hateful reviews aren't new to me! Ignore them. Art (good name) and I have a lot in common. (see below)

My Parents Went Through the Holocaust and All I Got Was This Lousy Tshirt
This TRAUMEDY is my memoir, based on the humor that heped my parents survive the horror of the Holocaust. Provocative title, yes, but flip, no...

Despite glowing reviews, like with Maus, I've been ripped to shreds by people who haven't read my book.

Hanala Stadner

This is a wrenching look at the Holocaust, written in a way that personalizes and humanizes the awful horror.
Not light reading, but should be given to young people for historical reasons. I don't know of any other source that makes this time more vivid, and terrible.

I read Maus I and II back in junior high and thought it was really cool that I was reading a book while also reading a comic. I purchased and re-read the boxed set recently when I stumbled upon it on Amazon. It's excellent. Truly a one-of-a-kind story, told in a way that gets the reader engaged in the details of what went on back in World War II. I love the cleverness of the Jews being portrayed as mice and the Nazi soldiers as cats. The only qualm I have with this series is that Maus II (the second and last book) ends rather abruptly, which is sort of understandable if you read the books. Honestly, I wanted more from the author and the storyline. Either way, it was a good read back when I was age 12 and still a good read at age 25.

I just don't understand, how any type of stereotyping, as maus is loaded with it, can be acceptable. Stereotyping like bigotry, can "never" be justified! The graphic nature of this book is also "disturbing." With so many other books out there, I personally am unable to understand why anyone would use this book that offends "other" (3 million Catholic Poles for starters)holocaust victims. Many, many books out there get the job done, without such dark graphics and offending peoples, who were also victims. There are three books that I feel are truly objective, factual and just not as offensive, as Maus is: "Auschwitz," by Sybile Steinbacher, Richard Lukas' "The Forgotten Holocaust," which "objectively" talks about "everyone's" suffering in the holocaust; and finally, Michael R. Marrus' "The Holocaust in History." On Marrus' book: "An ideal introduction to the subject for any student of the Holocaust, and an authoritative summary for the expert." Yehuda Bauer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem(back cover). With all the suffering and sensitivity on the Holocaust, "all" victims' feelings should be considered - maus does "not" accomplish this.

There are many other vechicles to use to teach the holocaust, and this is the last one you want to use. Also, the cold and demeaning negative stereotyping dosn't help much either. Between the UPSETTING GRAPHICS and the ETHNIC STEREOTYPING: WHY would any teacher want to subject their students to the very upsetting nature of this book. There are so many less graphic and less demeaning books out there to teach this subject. Don't bother.

I stumbled across this a few days ago in a book shop in Cambodia, of all places. I sat transfixed reading the book until 4 a.m., when my eyes could no longer focus. When I awoke the next day, I finished the book.

We are provided with a narrative by the father, a Holocaust survivor, and a more recent portrayal of the author (the son, who happens to be the artist, also). We see the trials and tribulations of his father and his mother as a young Jewish couple in World War 2 era Poland during the Nazi invasion and subsequent occupation.

We also get to share the experience of being the guilty son of Holocaust survivors. He worries about seeing his father as the stereotypical "miserly old Jew." Can he have judgment about people who have suffered through so much? Can he have a bit of animosity towards his parents, as most people tend to do? The author has to question how his mother could have survived the Nazi regime, but committed suicide when he was 20. He has to question the relationship with his father. Is he annoying or pitiful or admirable?

All these muddled emotions and the true story of a man who lived through the most brutal crime of the 20th century all come into play.

The drawings are great. The format is great. The idea to show different races as different animals is also great. Because, as silly as that sounds- isn't even sillier that people see our own races as different creatures?

As a Polish/american/alsacian I need to say this book is amazing. It captures all cultures together and produces the most authentic representation of WW2 I have ever read.

Wow, this survivor's tale of the Aushowitz prison camp is extremely poignant. Spiegelman creates a cartoon representation of what his father went through without trivilizing the events. He depicts the Jewish people as mice, the Nazis as cats, the Americans are dogs, and so on. As a survivor's tale it works, but Spiegelman adds another layer. He didn't understand his dad and fleshes this out in the pages. He depicts all the arguements and fights that they had between interviews. This book is a journey of the author to fully understand his father. To do that he had to understand Aushowitz; to do that he had to understand how his father survived.

More than a graphic novel. Rather a powerful moving tale of a son's recovery of a father's experience of the years of the holocaust and how this trickled down into contemporary family life. Reflective and immense in scope. I would recommend this book genuinely to anyone interested in what makes life worth living. The vignettes of Spiegelman's father are harrowing and inspiring, accentuated by a matter of fact story telling style. Spiegelman's insertion of his own family into the narrative serves to contrast the relatively normal travails of a modern family with those of families on the edge of survival and extinction.

These books practically invented the genre. The are entertaining, interesting, and moving, with a new and human perspective on the holocaust, its victims, and effects on follwing generations. Perhaps its greatest value is to introduce young persons to the tragedies of an earlier era in an accessible way. It even has its own style of humor and irony.

Few books (even Pulitzer Prize winners like this one) create their own genre. Art Spiegelman is a genius. The book was fantastic the first time I read it and even better the second time (when I read it again).

This really is a wonderful book. While much of this author's current writing are complete garbage, this book tells the story of the Holocaust like none before it. The language, the illustrations, the expressiveness of the writing, are unmatched. This book can be read and enjoyed by children and adults alike. Everyone should own this quick read.

A very accessible work on the horrors of the holocaust, as narrated by a survivor, Vladek, to his son. To a person like me, not really familiar with the details of these hardships outside as depicted in "The Pianist", it was definitely an eye-opener. The comic book medium of narrating such a story works exceedingly well, and I very much doubt the impact would have been of this magnitude if the book was in prose form.

What is particularly striking and forms the central theme of the book and stays with you a long time, is the resilience of Vladek to survive in the face of utter misery and hopelessness. The author makes an important observation that survival under those circumstances was dependent on a multitude of factors like luck and does not necessarily imply that the handful of survivors were better suited to survive than the thousands who perished, but in the case of Vladek, you can't but admire his enterprise and his aggressive exploits to live. This resourcefulness sticks with Vladek long after the war has ended, and manifests itself as bothersome thrift and forms the basis of the undercutting theme of the book, his relationship with his wife and son. The author makes no pretensions of idolizing his father and the matter-of-fact way that Vladek narrates his incredible story ironically makes it very effectual and moving.

I had strong expectations from the book considering all the hype surrounding it, and was not disappointed.

The powerful impact of this story sort of sneaks up on you in the cracks between the cartoon panels. This story both of his parents troubles in Nazi occupied Poland, and ultimately as Holocaust survivors, is blended with the story of his strife with his aging father. This is simple and powerful. Story telling stripped to the bare bones.

I haven't read many graphic novels, but I am decently well-read otherwise, and my knowledge of the Holocaust would be above the average person's, but not phenomenal. Given that background, and all that I had read about Maus, I was expecting a "tour de force" that would make at least a minor dent on my reading career. That, unfortunately, was not to be, and while I finished the book feeling that the time spent on it was definitely well spent, the book is already fading in my memory.

Maus tells the tale of an artist who decides to write a comic book based on his Father's recount of the Holocaust, which, in fact, is what the author is doing based on his own Father's experiences. The book spans about 4 decades from the mid-thirties to the seventies, covering the pre-WWII period to the time when the author is actually exploring the past with his Father and writing this book. There are two stories intertwined marvelously in this book: a first-hand survivor's experience of life before, during, and after the Holocaust, and that of a relationship between an ageing Father and young-to-middle aged son who have a serious disconnect.

The two stories could actually have been written independently, but it is their excellent juxtaposition which is one of the clear highlights of the book, for it has a multiplier affect on the poignancy of both the Father's and the Son's situations. Each of the stories themselves is well crafted, managing to weave together a bunch of incidents across points in time to create a very smoothly flowing narrative. I was particularly impressed by the telling of the Father-Son relationship, for it manages to pick and show very small events which we know can cumulatively build up to create tremendous long-term frustration, but are almost never able to remember, or recount effectively, or demonstrate the impact of, either to ourselves or to others. Art picks his moments beautifully, and even though the setting is completely different, I felt that I could completely empathize with him (as I am sure my Parents would be able to with his Father!)

The recount of the Holocaust had less of an impact on me, possibly because I was familiar enough with the nature of the incidents, if not a particular man's plight. The exploration of the atrocities was done in a very straight-forward, linear, and almost journalistic fashion (which is somewhat understandable given Art's leanings.) Consequently, while it was still somewhat horrific to revisit these heinous crime scenes, the impact was diminished as there was nothing different in the story. As a contrast, think of the film "Life is Beautiful", and you'll understand how a difference in the storyline or presentation style can significantly enhance the poignancy and impact even when lesser time is spent on the war crimes themselves.

The artwork in the book is average, although it does have it moments of brilliance. The most impactful choice of course is that of portraying people from different nationalities in different and appropriate animal forms e.g. Jews as mice and Germans as cats.

Overall, I would definitely recommend reading the book, but with a lowered set of expectations than one would normally develop upon reading the reams of extreme praise that have been showered upon this book. Keep that in mind, and I am quite confident you will find the book a very worthwhile reading experience.

I haven't read many graphic novels, but I am decently well-read otherwise, and my knowledge of the Holocaust would be above the average person's, but not phenomenal. Given that background, and all that I had read about Maus, I was expecting a "tour de force" that would make at least a minor dent on my reading career. That, unfortunately, was not to be, and while I finished the book feeling that the time spent on it was definitely well spent, the book is already fading in my memory.

Maus tells the tale of an artist who decides to write a comic book based on his Father's recount of the Holocaust, which, in fact, is what the author is doing based on his own Father's experiences. The book spans about 4 decades from the mid-thirties to the seventies, covering the pre-WWII period to the time when the author is actually exploring the past with his Father and writing this book. There are two stories intertwined marvelously in this book: a first-hand survivor's experience of life before, during, and after the Holocaust, and that of a relationship between an ageing Father and young-to-middle aged son who have a serious disconnect.

The two stories could actually have been written independently, but it is their excellent juxtaposition which is one of the clear highlights of the book, for it has a multiplier affect on the poignancy of both the Father's and the Son's situations. Each of the stories themselves is well crafted, managing to weave together a bunch of incidents across points in time to create a very smoothly flowing narrative. I was particularly impressed by the telling of the Father-Son relationship, for it manages to pick and show very small events which we know can cumulatively build up to create tremendous long-term frustration, but are almost never able to remember, or recount effectively, or demonstrate the impact of, either to ourselves or to others. Art picks his moments beautifully, and even though the setting is completely different, I felt that I could completely empathize with him (as I am sure my Parents would be able to with his Father!)

The recount of the Holocaust had less of an impact on me, possibly because I was familiar enough with the nature of the incidents, if not a particular man's plight. The exploration of the atrocities was done in a very straight-forward, linear, and almost journalistic fashion (which is somewhat understandable given Art's leanings.) Consequently, while it was still somewhat horrific to revisit these heinous crime scenes, the impact was diminished as there was nothing different in the story. As a contrast, think of the film "Life is Beautiful", and you'll understand how a difference in the storyline or presentation style can significantly enhance the poignancy and impact even when lesser time is spent on the war crimes themselves.

The artwork in the book is average, although it does have it moments of brilliance. The most impactful choice of course is that of portraying people from different nationalities in different and appropriate animal forms e.g. Jews as mice and Germans as cats.

Overall, I would definitely recommend reading the book, but with a lowered set of expectations than one would normally develop upon reading the reams of extreme praise that have been showered upon this book. Keep that in mind, and I am quite confident you will find the book a very worthwhile reading experience.

A unique way of telling the story of the Holocaust. The volumes tell the story of a father who was in a camp, and a son who felt he must tell what it meant. The books mean a lot to me because the Holocaust is the most horrific event in Western history. Buy these books and weep over the story of the sin behind the horror for the sin still haunts the halls of Western history.

Foremost, let's discuss your options: the hardcover "Complete Maus" is your best buy. While it may be tempting to purchase the box-set, the hardcover edition is best for longevity. The box-set is comprised of the two soft-cover volumes in a very nice sleeve . . . but it cannot endure multiple reads as gracefully as the hardcover . . . which can be passed around to your friends and family and still maintain a tight binding. The price is comparable, but even it if were not, I would still endorse the complete single volume.

Next, let's explore why this work is used in college classrooms throughout the world. While historical texts provide much needed facts and details of The Holocaust, they frequently disconnect students from the human element. The scope of The Holocaust is just too overwhelming . . . six million, where to begin? And while many films emotionally engage us, sometimes historical inaccuracies frustrate eager learners. Moreover, even the very best films (like Schindler's List) cannot (perhaps should not) show us the truth. For instance, when reading Brecher's "Schindler's Legacy," we learn that there are many details omitted from Spielberg's work: such as infants being held by their ankles and swung against walls until dead or the vicious dogs which mauled to death those in concentration camps. How can Spielberg show this and still maintain his audience . . . the fear is that he may not. But Spiegelman can. By relating history through mice and the graphic-novel format, Spiegelman can provide just enough emotional distance to relate many of the details which cannot be successfully told otherwise (a point which needs to be clarified in light of the fairly ignorant posts I am reading here about this text). And it does so without be branded "gratuitous." In my experience, it is one of the most effective ways to educate young people (and people of every age) about The Holocaust and the its legacy. And while many works on The Holocaust are met with student-resistance (filled with fear and anger, they fight history), this one is not. It is the gift of this work . . . people listen.

If, by chance, you wish to continue exploring Spiegelman's work, there is a phenomenal critical text which provides illumination: "Considering Maus: Approaches to Art Spiegelman's 'Survivor's Tale' of the Holocaust" by Deborah R. Geis. While geared toward scholars, it can be understood by anyone with a minimum of patience. It is worth the read, but not necessary to the comprehension of this work.

It should be known that Spiegelman's work is a personal one. Much of the text is drawn from the life of his father and what his father endured. So know that Spiegelman approaches this work with the utmost reverence. And while it relates the history of his father, it provides a very accurate description of history. In fact, this piece won The Pulitzer Prize.

This work is one of the most valuable of the twentieth-century. Without hesitation, I recommend it to anyone with an interest in history, literature, philosophy, or illustration.

WHY IS THIS BOOK LISTED UNDER THE "HUMOR" CATEGORY????? THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST. I DONT THINK THATS CONSIDERED HUMOR...

Spiegelman's book is a work of genius. It is so well-crafted, so riveting, that I sat down to read a few pages at midnight (after a very tiring day) and ended up reading The Complete Maus in one sitting.
My appreciation of Maus may have been greater because I had previously bought The Pit and The Trap by Leyb Rochman on Amazon. These two works convey the nightmarish plight of the Polish Jews in a way that will change you forever. Dear God, how could the Germans and Poles be so evil to a group of defenseless people who had never done them any harm?

My grandmother Esther use to call my comic collection "MICKEY MOUSE" She died in 1988 and I think never understood the power of a graphic novel

The power of a graphic novel is not just collection of stories in a cartoon way. Some have impact beyond the level of simple storytelling. There are newish biographical graphic tales like Maus, the illustrated 9/11 report, King and Barefoot Gen which related history not Superheroes adventures. Howewwver there is also a new crop of adult Graphic novel also which is stronger than superheroes which current filmmakers are making into movies like Sin City, From Hell, and the History of Violence

Lets talk about Maus. Art Spiegelman related his father's real life story of being Jewish in Europe in World War two and the holocaust. Orginally a two volume set, it is complete here. It is better in one complete volume.

This graphic novel is related in Animal farm-que style (Poles are Pigs, Cats are Germans, etc), not this isnt funny animal comics like Looney Tunes. With Spiegelman's symbolism, you can understand the story quickly and it the points.

The holocaust is hard to take in most normal novels, audio books and biographies-in a graphic novel format, it is not easier to take-it become more emotional on a deeper level. Since the emotions give away to the images on the page to the further animated images in your mind of the action. It is a testimate of this book's power that It can make you weep.

This is a powerful work that every High School student NEEDS to read! In the graphic novel format, it is a book that is not a comic book. It is a strong illustrated story, It is something that needs to be read often and by many.

For those naysays who think a comic is still a comic not matter what...well I can't win you over. Buy this book and see if you can prove me wrong. I bet once you read this, you will be a beleiver.

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Maus is the tale of Art Spiegelman's quest to take notes on his father's experiences during the holocaust and commit them to paper so that others can see the stories his father, Vladek, has to tell. The book works brillantly as a narrative within a narrative as Art dodges and weaves around his father's habits, troubles, and complaints in order to show us the astonishing and unbelievable series of events that Vladek somehow manages to live through. Art Spiegelman's depiction of his and his father's life as effected by the holocaust is shockingly honest. The fact that Maus is a true story makes the characters even more relatable and while some may view the idea of turning the characters into animals as stupid or even offensive, it is surprisingly effective on a visual and emotional level with Spiegelman creating an infinite range of emotions with just a few pen strokes. With Maus, Spiegelman does a service to comics creators and aficionados everywhere by using the format to depict some true accounts of one of the most tragic and horrible events in recent history. This comic, along with a few others from its time, have helped to bring comics into the realm of serious media and give comics the recognition they deserve but even more importantly, Maus is a moving and wonderful tale that the world is better for having.

what else can i say?
the art is pretty good, the storytelling is phenominal.
its more than worth the money.

It's been over a decade since i last read Maus. I'd still rate it as one of the greatest books i've ever read. If you're the type of person that's turned off by Maus simply because it's told in comic book form then please give this a try and then be ashamed at your previous ignorance. Not only is it an incredibly powerful story of Vladek's surviving the Nazi camps, there is also the moving side story of Arts relationship w/ his father. All in all a fabulous book that helped continue the 'aging' of the comic book genre after Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns.

Instead of doing research on the Holocaust,the author has taken bits and pieces of WW2 history and mangled them together in a book that tells a haphazard story.A story that mostly spews out one-sided myths about the Jews and Nazis.The animal carictures were nothing but insensitive and illogical depiction of different nationalities-Nazis portrayed by cats(a species that is lazy,gentle and can get along with mice),Poles portrayed at fat,ugly pigs(which gives people the impression that all Poles are fat and ugly) and Jews portrayed as mice(a species that is cowardly,unhygenic and decietful)-which gives people the impression that all Jews are unhygenic,decietful,cowardly people.
98% of Holocaust facts are missing,replaced with assumptions and myths created by the author.There was no mention of how German housewives baked cakes with swahstickas on them,or how Austria was invaded by the Germans.No mention of the cruel experiments carried out on both people and animals,and no mention of Germany becoming allies with Japan.Not all the Jews were hung,as the author tries to get you to believe.Speigelman-next time try writing an actual book instead of a book that teaches kids myths and assumptions about a certain event in history.
Don't waste your money on this book of assumptions-get "Schindler's List" for a truthful,accurate documentary on the Holocaust.

THE BOOK IS ATTRACTIVE N IT GIVES A SORT OF LIGHT-HEARTEDNESS ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, I ENOJOYED IT, IT WAS A GOOD READ

MAUS is about as educational as any graphic novel could hope to be. The problem is the subject matter does not make for entertainment even though MAUS is a graphic novel and the characters are all Animal Farm type creatures, there is more than just a touch of Orwell here. As it stands Art Spiegelman has spent years drawing this book and it delivers a powerful and often horrifying account of survival. There are a few of these types of political graphic novels and MAUS seems to be the #1 candidate for the one you should read if you want to venture down that path. The problem is, you don't really enjoy what you are reading and it is hard to call it entertainment. Important, lengthy reading that I actually covered in the space of a few months on the toilet seat (not a bad way to get through this I might add). Like I said, it is not something you will enjoy but you will be glad that you read it.

20 years ago, when the first of these novels was published, the graphic (a term that extends beyond works of fiction to memoirs and travelogues in the graphic idiom) was the purview of kids, dweebs and nerds. No self-respecting literary critic admitted to enjoying the work of Stan Lee or reading the comic section of the newspaper beyond Doonesbury. Maus changed that. Here was a story with depth and adult themes delivered in the childishly accessible manner of Mickey Mouse or a Tom and Jerry cartoon. The same way that intense violence in the cartoons of Warner Brothers was considered children's fare, at first blush, the horrors of Nazi occupation seemed like children's fare to those who picked up this book. To this day, junior high school English teachers recommend these books as a way to introduce their students to terms Holocaust. But part of the genius of Maus is that it went well beyond a kid's introduction to the nastiness of man, it is a deeply human story told by complex individuals through pain and triumph. Before Maus, the concept of graphic journalism, like that seen in Pyongyang by Delisle and the comic strip as memoir, like so well conveyed in Harvey Pekar's The Quitter, and other attempts to present the serious fare that adults crave in this amazing, imaginative and extremely creative genre, may never have made it past the limited audience of earlier comics like American Splendor and Heavy Metal. But then again, the turn of the 21st Century saw the ascendance of the outsider, the dweeb, the nerd. With the rise of nerd culture, maybe, the rise of the comics as literary form was inevitable. Who knows? What is certain is that Maus is a great introduction to this the melding to the writer's craft with the graphic artist's, I recommend it to you.

Maus is the perfect way for people who normally don't read WWII histories to finally get an idea of what the Holocaust really was. This book starts right at the beginning and goes all the way to the end - not just showing the experience of Auschwitz, but also what life is like as a survivor. Art Spiegelman's father is changed forever by his experiences, and that is captured in this book in a way I have never seen before.

I read this for a class; otherwise I might never have picked it up. It is absolutely amazing. This is one textbook I am definitely not selling back to the bookstore. :) I am lending it out to my parents, siblings, and friends, because not only is it deep, meaningful, and informative, it also has humor in it. (gasp!) They may be drawn as mice, but this is one of the only books about the Holocaust I have read that has given me characters I can really relate to - I finally could get my mind around what happened in WWII, and it got me thinking what it would be like if it were to happen to me. The Holocaust was a frightening, horrifying thing, and this is such a beautiful statement against it.

I think everyone should read this book. It has already become a very treasured volume in my own personal library.

Maus is a good book about the holocaust for anyone including people who would rather look at pictures then read. art speigelman's unique style of using animals instead of people put the events of the holocaust in a different perspective and showed how evil Hitler and the Nazis really were.

As a lit teacher, I often feel uncomfortable how easily people declare something they like for the moment "a classic," when so often it's something that'll be gone from everyone's memory in a few years. A classic is something that lasts and is read for decades, even centuries.

I feel comfortable calling Maus a classic, however. This is one of the great works to come out of the Holocaust, and is a classic of Jewish literature. It is also a classic of American literature, as it expresses a tale that is such a deep part of American culture. Graphically, it is a classic of art, melding multiple styles to tell a visual story. And it is a classic of its own medium, comics--not simply because it was the first to win a Pulitzer, but because it shows, perhaps better than any other, that comics can be for adults, can be a serious medium for saying serious things. Maus isn't the only serious comic out there, but it's the iconic representative of serious comics.

If you consider yourself a widely-read, literate person, but you haven't read Maus, then you have a gap in your education.

I think that Maus was an informative book. Even though it was completely in comics, it told the story very well. I think that the book would have been better if it wasn't completely written in comics. Another thing that I didn't like about the book was the fact that it shows all of the characters as mice. This was confusing at times.

I believe that this book deserves 5 out of 5 stars. It gives an insight on how the Jew's were mistreated. They lived in horrible conditions, and were forced to do intense work everyday. It is extremely depressing knowing what these Jew's went through, and how we human's can torture ourselves.
I recommend this book to everyone who is able to read. This kind of a good history book, which shows what really happened. It is not something to relive, but it is something to remember all those who suffered the pain and torture. So in conclusion, this book should read by anyone.