Book Review: Mid-Century Ads for Design Lovers

Book Review: Mid-Century Ads for Design Lovers – Gleaned from thousands of images, this companion set of books offers the best of American print advertising in the age of the “Big Idea.” At the height of American consumerism magazines were flooded with clever campaigns selling everything from girdles to guns. These optimistic indicators paint a fascinating picture of the colorful capitalism that dominated the spirit of the 1950s and 60s, as concerns about the Cold War gave way to the carefree booze-and-cigarettes Mad Men era. Also included is a wide range of significant advertising campaigns from both eras, giving insight into the zeitgeist of the period. Bursting with fresh, crisp colors, these ads have been digitally mastered to look as bright and new as the day they first hit newsstands.

Cultural anthropologist and popular culture historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of Los Angeles, and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has been featured in museum collections internationally and in numerous publications.

Steven Heller is the co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author Program. For 33 years he was an art director for The New York Times, and currently writes the “Visuals” column for The New York Times Book Review. He is the author of 120 books on graphic design, illustration, and satiric art.

“If you’re a graphic design nerd, a marketing guru looking for a coffee table book or just a lover of pop Americana, trust us, you want this for your collection.”
— Huffingtonpost.com, New York