I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

"I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is both a page turner and an education. It’s a fascinating, illustrated account of many things, such as film director Gus Van Sant’s social world and influence in 1990s Portland, Ore., and how white nationalism sort of coexisted with the alternative/grunge culture scene. Murphy’s report on white supremacy in the region, from the first colonists all the way up to present day, somehow begins as a memoir of a teenage fan crush on actor River Phoenix. The expansive scope totally works thanks to Murphy’s beautiful ink-on-newsprint drawings."