A Diary of the Plague Year: An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020

An extraordinary illustrated chronicle of 2020 that captures this indelible year in America in all its tragic, surreal, epic, and (sometimes) comedic intensity

Artist Elise Engler set herself a task five years ago: to illustrate the first headline she heard on her bedside radio every morning. The idea was to create a pictorial record of one year of listening to the news. But when Donald Trump was elected, the headlines turned too wild for her to stop the experiment.

Then 2020 happened. Was there ever such a year? Headlines about the death of Kobe Bryant and Donald Trump's impeachment began to give way to news of a mysterious virus in China, and Engler's pages were quickly filled with the march of COVID-19: schools closing their doors, hospitals overflowing, graveyards full to capacity. Day by day, Engler drew every shocking turn of the year: the police murder of George Floyd and protests around the globe; a war against science and those who preached it; fires consuming California; a vicious election, absurdly contested. Other stories appeared, too: "Harvey Weinstein Sentenced," "Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized," "China Extends Control over Hong Kong," and--on repeat--"Stock Market Plunges."

The result is a powerful visual record of an unprecedented time, collected in A Diary of the Plague Year, which follows the headlines from the first appearance of the coronavirus to the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Made in real time, Engler's vibrant, immediate images recapture what it was like to live through 2020, bringing texture, feeling, and even charm to what we might not remember and what we will never forget.

Author: Elise Engler
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Published: 01/18/2022
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.10lbs
Size: 9.20h x 7.50w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781250824691


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2021 pg. 12
Booklist 10/15/2021 pg. 16
Publishers Weekly 11/01/2021
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2021

About the Author
Elise Engler is a visual artist who has shown in galleries across the United States and Europe. A Diary of the Plague Year is her first book. The recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in drawing and an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation grant in painting, Engler has also received two MacDowell residencies and a fellowship at Civitella Ranieri in Umbria, Italy. Her work has been written about in Art in America, the New Yorker, and the New York Times, among other publications. Engler teaches at City College, City University of New York, and the School of Visual Arts and for the Battery Park City Authority. She lives in New York.