Back to Top

Channel

Judging Books by Their Covers

Judging Books by Their Covers is Josh MacPhee's ongoing series of writings and image collections of book covers. Although sometimes they feel marginal today, books have been a primary form of information and cultural exchange for almost 400 years. Book covers are often a person's first contact with the ideas inside, and in the hustle and bustle of contemporary life, cover designs are even more likely to shape the opinions of those that pick them up since many of us are too busy to ever read the entirety of the books. Judging Books by Their Covers largely focuses on—but is not exclusive to—the book covers and design coming out of the Left. Josh is always looking for more book covers to feature. If you've got some gems he missed, or have ideas, drop him an email at josh (at) justseeds.org
271: Hammett on Iskry

271: Hammett on Iskry

April 8, 2019

Here are a couple great Dashiell Hammett novellas published in Poland by Iskry in 1987 and ’88. Although the cover designs (by Wiesław Rosocha) are not as accomplished as many…

270: English Everywhere

270: English Everywhere

April 1, 2019

A quick book blog this week. I found this book on the street a couple months back, and am pretty impressed with the 1970s whole book design, channeling high modernist…

269: Commie Round-Up

269: Commie Round-Up

February 25, 2019

This week I thought I would just round up some of the cooler communist covers I’ve amassed over the past handful of years. It’s a nice collection, with material from…

268: Democracy vs. Communism

268: Democracy vs. Communism

February 18, 2019

About a month ago I came across a clutch of these great old anti-communist pamphlets at Book Thug Nation. Touted as the “Democracy versus Communism Series,” they are an amazing…

266: <em>The New Soldier</em>

266: The New Soldier

August 13, 2018

I was surprised to stumble on this really nicely designed book by and about the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, published in 1971 by Collier, a major publishing house. It’s…

263: Big Red Diary 1974

263: Big Red Diary 1974

July 16, 2018

From the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, young radicals in the U.S. really only had one choice for a day planner, the Slingshot Organizer. I always had a love/hate relationship…

261: <em>A Soviet Journey</em>

261: A Soviet Journey

July 2, 2018

I picked up this book in Portland, OR a couple years back. I’ve been an Alex La Guma fan since reading his slow-burning yet mesmerizing anti-apartheid struggle novel, In the…

260: No Pasaran!

260: No Pasaran!

June 25, 2018

I picked up this book while browsing Mother Foucault’s Bookshop in Portland, OR with Alec and Katie a couple years back. It was a little pricey for something I’ll never…

257: Penguin Crime

257: Penguin Crime

March 12, 2018

There are a couple really sweet spots (for me) where book cover design starts to feel sublime, and one of these is the “Green Period” of the Penguin crime series…

255: Tamil Communism

255: Tamil Communism

January 15, 2018

    I’ve been sitting on these dozen covers for almost six years now. Back in 2012 my friend Jesse sent these scans from a visit to India, and it…

Page 1 of 14