Front Page: Covers of the Twentieth-Century

This eye-popping coffee table book features a bizarre assemblage of images, ranging from the psychedelic 1970s covers of the now-defunct French pop culture magazine Actuel, to a Life magazine cover from 1944, with Charles de Gaulle in uniform, gazing out above the photographer's lens, to a portrait of a suave-looking Robert Redford on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1980. It's a stirring collection. After a brief history of magazine covers in particular and the press in general, the editors share covers from 28 American and European magazines, picking ones that favor splashy art or provocative photos over headlines and captions. They then analyze trends in graphics, including caricature in Pop Art; hightlight cover themes (such as transportation, propaganda and fashion); and point to people who have set records for the most cover appearances (including Grace Kelly, Hitler and Princess Diana). The well-produced color and b&w illustrations offer a dazzling representation of the last century.