Ginseng Roots

AN OBSERVER GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE MONTH A GUARDIAN BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 'A modern classic.' GUARDIAN 'It just blew me away.' JEFF LEMIRE 'Beautiful.' ROLLING STONE 'A masterpiece.' JOE SACCO FROM THE BESTSELLING, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF BLANKETS AND HABIBI From the celebrated author of Blankets and Habibi comes a long-awaited new graphic memoir. Ginseng Roots follows Craig and his siblings, who spent the summers of their youth weeding and harvesting rows of coveted American ginseng on rural Wisconsin farms. Following an injury, Craig rediscovers this herb, central to Chinese medicine, and embarks on an extraordinary journey from his midwestern roots to north-east China. Suffused in a vibrant earthy palette, Ginseng Roots masterfully blends memoir, travelogue and cultural history to explore and illuminate ideas of creativity, doubt, healing and family.

AN OBSERVER GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE MONTH A GUARDIAN BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 'A modern classic.' GUARDIAN 'It just blew me away.' JEFF LEMIRE 'Beautiful.' ROLLING STONE 'A masterpiece.' JOE SACCO FROM THE BESTSELLING, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF BLANKETS AND HABIBI From the celebrated author of Blankets and Habibi comes a long-awaited new graphic memoir. Ginseng Roots follows Craig and his siblings, who spent the summers of their youth weeding and harvesting rows of coveted American ginseng on rural Wisconsin farms. Following an injury, Craig rediscovers this herb, central to Chinese medicine, and embarks on an extraordinary journey from his midwestern roots to north-east China. Suffused in a vibrant earthy palette, Ginseng Roots masterfully blends memoir, travelogue and cultural history to explore and illuminate ideas of creativity, doubt, healing and family.

From the celebrated author of Blankets and Habibi comes a new graphic memoir exploring the class divide, childhood labor, family, and our globalized world--all centered on Wisconsin's ginseng farming industry "A sweeping story, gorgeously drawn and beautifully told -- this is Craig Thompson's masterpiece." --Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Paying the Land When Blankets first published in 2003, Craig Thompson's seminal memoir about first love and faith lost in rural Wisconsin debuted to rapturous acclaim. The winner of two Eisner and three Harvey Awards, it is to this day considered one of the all-time great works of graphic storytelling. Now, in Craig's long-awaited return to the autobiographical form, comes the story that Blankets left out. Ginseng Roots follows Craig and his siblings, who spent the summers of their youth weeding and harvesting rows of coveted American ginseng on rural Wisconsin farms for one dollar an hour. In his trademark breathtaking pen-and-ink work, Craig interweaves this lost youth with the 300-year-old history of the global ginseng trade and the many lives it has tied together--from ginseng hunters in ancient China, to industrial farmers and migrant harvesters in the American Midwest, to his own family still grappling with the aftershocks of the bitter past. Stretching from Marathon, Wisconsin, to Northeast China, Ginseng Roots charts the rise of industrial agriculture, the decline of American labor, and the search for a sense of home in a rapidly changing world.

From the celebrated author of Blankets and Habibi comes a new graphic memoir exploring the class divide, childhood labor, family, and our globalized world--all centered on Wisconsin's ginseng farming industry "A sweeping story, gorgeously drawn and beautifully told -- this is Craig Thompson's masterpiece." --Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Paying the Land When Blankets first published in 2003, Craig Thompson's seminal memoir about first love and faith lost in rural Wisconsin debuted to rapturous acclaim. The winner of two Eisner and three Harvey Awards, it is to this day considered one of the all-time great works of graphic storytelling. Now, in Craig's long-awaited return to the autobiographical form, comes the story that Blankets left out. Ginseng Roots follows Craig and his siblings, who spent the summers of their youth weeding and harvesting rows of coveted American ginseng on rural Wisconsin farms for one dollar an hour. In his trademark breathtaking pen-and-ink work, Craig interweaves this lost youth with the 300-year-old history of the global ginseng trade and the many lives it has tied together--from ginseng hunters in ancient China, to industrial farmers and migrant harvesters in the American Midwest, to his own family still grappling with the aftershocks of the bitter past. Stretching from Marathon, Wisconsin, to Northeast China, Ginseng Roots charts the rise of industrial agriculture, the decline of American labor, and the search for a sense of home in a rapidly changing world.