Jesse Owens: Miles and miles #[nn]

Gradimir Smudja's richly painted cover for this 2024 Silvester release tells the whole sweep of Jesse Owens' life in a single breathtaking image: the athlete, dressed in his Ohio jersey and clutching a blazing torch, strides forward through a cotton field while the shadows of a KKK figure and a Nazi officer loom on either side — a vivid shorthand for the obstacles he ran through and beyond. The panoramic, almost mural-like composition draws the eye deep into a landscape crowded with historical detail, reflecting the ambitious scope of the story that Smudja and co-writer Dieter Van Tilburgh have set out to tell. If the cover is any measure, Miles and Miles approaches its subject with both artistic ambition and unflinching honesty.