Southern Cross

Southern Cross: A Novel of the South Seas is a stunning wordless novel told in 118 wood engravings about the atomic bomb testing by the United States in the South Pacific following World War II. This new hardcover edition is a facsimile of the original edition, published in 1951. Laurence Hyde was infuriated with the United States, who continued testing in the Bikini Atoll, following the mass destruction and unthinkable horrors resulting from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Hyde´s graphic novel involves a Polynesian island and the islanders´ idyllic and secure life that is forever lost after American sailors arrive on the island and evacuate the islanders from their homes. Southern Cross includes the original introduction by Rockwell Kent and two essays by Hyde where he provides the idea for his book, a detailed description of the process of wood engraving and a short history of the woodcut novel. A new introduction is provided by the woodcut novel historian, David A. Beronä.