( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

A for Anonymous: How a Mysterious Hacker Collective Transformed the World by David Kushner, illustrated by Koren Shadmi

Bold Type Books, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781568588797

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle

While A for Anonymous doesn’t fall into the category of horror and dark fiction or horror-adjacent titles that Monster Librarian typically reviews,   there are a number of real-world horrors that are addressed by author David Kushner and illustrator Koren Shadmi in these pages. Anonymous is known for exposing some of these human monsters.

The A for Anonymous graphic novel presents an interview between Kushner, who wrote a number of articles on Anonymous, and Commander X, a faceless member of the hacktivist group who agrees to discuss the resistance group’s founding, history, and activities. It presents a decent introduction into Anonymous and some of their activities that garnered national attention. Some of their attacks were leveled at governments, corporations, and religious institutions, just to name a few. Kushner discusses how Anonymous went after the Church of Scientology; the case of Geohot and hacking Sony; the influence of the hacktivist movement involved in exposing the Steubenville, Ohio rape case; and more. The author acknowledges both the successes and the failures of Anonymous regarding their actions as well.

While it makes for a good overview of the movement, the book does not provide any real analysis or insight into Anonymous’ philosophy or lesser-known activities. Other reviewers have noted that information contained in the graphic novel can be found with a simple Google search, and chances are that a good portion of those search results are linked to articles that Kushner himself wrote for magazines such as the New Yorker and Rolling Stone. It would also have added value to the book for Kushner to include citations from his previous work for those interested in reading more about Anonymous.  Recommended.

Contains: discussion of racism and rape

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker