Mat Johnson's devastating new graphic novel, Incognegro is based partly on his own experience as "a black boy who looked white" and partly on the real experiences of Walter White, longtime executive secretary of the NAACP. This story, of a black journalist named Zane Pinchback who passes in the south for white to write his column against crimes against blacks is direct, intense, and mesmerizing. The violence, as depicted by artist Warren Pleece, can not be denied. The book opens with a lynching and it doesn't back down from there. But the story it tells, of America in the 1930s, is one that I don't think has been told in popular fiction nearly enough. Johnson agrees, and this story - which has been part of him since his childhood - is a heartbreaking, thrill a minute, historical mystery. It's ugly and it's beautiful and I think everybody needs to read it.

I know the book has only been released a month ago, but other than some news on the comics blogs, I haven't heard much and I certainly haven't heard anything among lit bloggers and I think this is a very literary book. It is a mystery in terms of plot - a white woman is killed and a black man (who is very personally close to Zane) is found with the body. He is arrested and will likely be lynched in a short time. Zane goes south along with a friend to uncover the truth. But nothing is as it seems in Tupelo and the mystery takes several unexpected twists and turns. As Zane follows his leads along divergent paths, the day to day life of whites and blacks in Mississippi is revealed and the differences between those realities, and the life Zane and his friends enjoy in Harlem is startling.

To some degree Incognegro is nothing new - we know that blacks were lynched for crimes they did not commit, we know many southern whites were racist and the KKK was incredibly powerful in this period. What most whites will likely not know anything about is the power of the black press and the lengths that many people, like Walter White, were willing to go to in order to make sure the truth of America's crimes against its own is revealed.

What you have here is basically a riveting history lesson that could not - will not - be taught better in any classroom or with a textbook. Couple it with watching Rosewood and you've got fodder for some amazing and important discussions. But really, Icognegro is not a YA book (nor is it marketed as such); it's for anyone with a keen interest in understanding more about America and a willingness to know just how dark some of our days have been.

Wicked Cool Overlooked Books found elsewhere today:

Little Willow highlights Notes on a Near-Life Experience by Olivia Birdsall: What do A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban and Notes on a Near-Life Experience by Olivia Birdsall have in common? Both use quirky vignettes with quirky titles to effectively tell a story. While Crooked offers cookies, organ music, and striped toe socks, Notes includes pepperoni, prom, and a person from Peru.

Dear Enemy by Jean Webster (who sounds amazing) is celebrated at Finding Wonderland: Dear Enemy deals with simple and practical solutions to life in institutions, and things like hand-washing and cleanliness and order are discussed thoroughly. The irony of Jean Webster dying from a disease brought on by an unsterilized obstetric room and dirty hands is simply painful.

Becky looks at Rash by Peter Hautman: It doesn't take a genius to predict that it would practically impossible for a sixteen year old boy to control his temper 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 years. And sure enough, when he sees Karlohs Mink with his arms around Maddy at the local mall...his brief glimpse of freedom and a future fade away in rage.

Now Bo is being sent away to Prison 387 owned by the McDonald's Rehabilitation and Manufacturing Corporation and located in Canada after all "since the USSA annexed Canada during the Diplomatic Wars of 2055" most of McDonald's prison factories were moving up north.

MacDonald's running prisons - okay this book book is too brilliant to be overlooked for sure!