Mid-Century Ads. 40th Ed. - by Steven Heller (Hardcover)

About the Book

Sit back with this anthology of ads and zoom back in time to the height of American postwar consumerism, when real life Don Drapers labored day and night to sell everything from girdles to guns. This panorama of midcentury marketing paints a fascinating portrait of the 1950s and '60s, high in color, crisp fonts, and sexy, carefree capitalism.

Book Synopsis

Gleaned from thousands of images, this book offers the best of American print advertising in the age of the "Big Idea." From the height of American consumerism, bold and colorful campaigns paint a fascinating portrait of the 1950s and '60s, as concerns about the Cold War gave way to the carefree booze-and-cigarettes capitalism of the Mad Men era.

Digitally remastered for optimum reproduction quality, the ads burst with crisp fonts and colors, as well as a sexy sense of possibility, beguiling their audience to buy everything from guns to girdles, cars to toothpaste, air travel to home appliances. At turns startling, amusing and inspiring, this panorama of midcentury marketing is at once an evocative period piece and a showcase of design innovation and advertising wit.

Review Quotes

"An alluring time capsule of the era."-- "The Boston Globe"

"The ads themselves, besides being graphically stunning, are as eloquent about mid-century Americans as any eyewitness report."-- "The Wall Street Journal"

"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"