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Design by W.G. Cookman
John Derbyshire sounds like a total jackhole, but he's got to have a sense of humor, because this is one of the funniest author photos I've ever seen. Not sure if that's supposed to be him on the button on the cover (probably not), but both of them have the Republican frown down pat.
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Design by Brett Yasko
Because you don't really know what conspiracy is lurking around the corner...or do you?
Designer (and photographer) credit to come
While researching books by and about John McCain I stumbled upon these. What great photographs.
Design by J. Wang
This is simple and rugged and beautiful in person, seeming almost like a still from a 1950s newsreel. And damn it if I didn't write down the designer's name. Someone help a blogger out? Buy this book from Amazon.com
Design by Jason Booher
The more I look at this, the more I really like it. A few questions:
1. Why are Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro facing forward, while LBJ (or RFK?) has his back turned? Students of history: does anything about LBJ's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis help explain this?
2. Such a Russian-looking design for (according to advance reviews) an even-handed, objective analysis. Resolved: there are very few design tropes that could have been used here that would have represented the American side of things and not mucked this up horribly. Discuss.
3. Is anyone else getting the overall impression of a playing card?
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Designer name to come (not yet published)
I think it's time for the BDR's first "What Would You Have Done?" post of 2008.
First things first, though: this is a welcome change from the vast majority of books by or about the presidential candidates, many of which look far too similar to my 5th grade Bicentennial-riffic school photo (American flags in the background, stack of books in my left hand like I'm a 5-foot-tall Statue of Liberty with a crew cut.)
That said, I'm left a bit wanting, especially after reading the description on the Harper Collins site: "This pointillistic portrait paints a composite picture of Hillary Clinton, focusing on details from the personal to the political, from the hard-hitting to the whimsical, to give a well-balanced and unbiased view of the woman who may be our first Madam President."
To me, "well-balanced" means divergent (and smart and responsibly-argued) thoughts, and I'm not sure the repetition of the photograph with the variation of color goes far enough to represent the different essays and ideas included in the book. But I also think introducing different photos -- unless they're selected *very* carefully -- might increase the visual noise to an unacceptable level.
Without going too far away from the original concept, what would you do with this cover?
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Design by Thomas Beck Stvan
When I first saw American Crescent, I immediately thought of an Economist cover I saw a year or so ago. Turns out the magazine has an archive of their covers, and I was able to find it.
In less talented hands, American Crescent would feature a shot of the Statue of Liberty facing us, with the crescent somehow affixed to the statue. And that would betray the nature of the book, which is about an acceptance of Islam that's (perhaps) yet to come. The photo selection is really great here -- only from a low perspective and from the back can the statue appear to be looking wistfully at and up to a potent symbol of Islam. Compare this to the Economist cover, on which the crescent is clearly part of the quintessential image of Europe, representing Islam as a stronger and more established cultural and religious force.
Small differences, maybe, but important ones nonetheless.
Designed by Jennifer Carrow
So simple, but so effective: Kofi Annan and the UN both have the best of intentions, but it's clear who got the better of whom here.
Design by Susan Mitchell
If you grew up in New York in the '70s as I did, you know who Bella Abzug was. But if you don't know who she was, the "one tough broad" in the subtitle pretty much says it all. What's wonderful about this cover -- and what's particulary impressive when you see the book in person -- is how aggressively it jumps off the new books table, just as Abzug jumped into and shook up politics. If it seems a little over the top, it's because Abzug was.
My only beef? Abzug's trademark hat barely registers.
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Design by Carol Devine Carson
A serious cover for a book that posits a serious thesis: as the Wikipedia article summarizes it, "The End of America shows how events of the last six years parallel steps taken in the early years of the twentieth century's worst dictatorships and urges Americans to take action to restore their constitutional values before they suffer the same fate."
If the cover reminds you of pamphlets from the 18th century, it should. The call to action might be as important:
(Image from Wikipedia)
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Working for the man sucks. You know what sucks more? Having this come across your desk and having to design it. And then having the art director tell you that putting a burnt flag on the jacket is probably the best idea s/he has to represent "the cultural left and its responsibility for 9/11," and that burning flags is really what liberals are all about.
Some reviews, etc. of this book:
Salon
The NY Times
Random House
And here's one from across the pond:
Excerpt here.
 OK, I need a little help with this one. The dots are immigrants?
 Years ago -- about 10 -- I saw Spawn at a movie theater. Leaving the theater, I asked my friend Dave what he thought about the movie. His response (which, by the way, is still the perfect summary of the film): "The evil clown guy didn't fart enough."
Which brings us to this. Regardless of your political orientation, can we all agree on two things?
1) This is a really funny illustration, and
2) The elephant-squished world isn't farting enough.
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