Paul Gravetts book embraces the whole history of manga starting with the influence through american comics at time of the occupation through allied powers after world war 2nd. It explains why mangas are created and published in b/w and what influenced the style regarding works by Hokusai and the immense influence and role of Osamu Tezuka. Furthermore it explains why magazines were started and which artists had an important role in the creation of genre like shounen, shoujo, seinen and josei manga. In every chapter the development of manga as art form and industry is explained including japanese history, law and delivers lots of examples for popular or outstanding mangas and artists by including whole pages. The last chapter even explains how manga became popular outside of japan and features e.g. french, american and german artists. Probably the best book I ever read about manga and their long journey to the west.