The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks,: Life and Death under Soviet Rule / Igort, 365 pp.

Igort is an Italian cartoonist who spent years in Russia and Ukraine capturing stories.  His investigations coalesce into two distinct threads: the great famine in Ukraine under Stalin and the murder of journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya.

The organization of the book is occasionally confusing, with occasional switchbacks from 1930s Ukraine to contemporary Moscow and the Chechen conflict and tangential testimonies from other Russians interfiled.  But the material is so intense, horrific, and graphic that it's almost a relief to be disoriented; a straightforward narrative might be unbearable.  

The drawings are perfect: evocative without calling attention to themselves or diverting from the narrative.