Books: October 2013 Archives

The Modern Magazine: Visual Journalism in the Digital Era

"What Is a Magazine?" asks Jeremy Leslie on the first page of this wonderful new book. There are a multiplicity of answers (of course), and you'll find many of them in this visual feast, filled with graphic delights and surprises. It's the book equivalent of a giant newsstand, and readers are treated to an endless display of magazines from around the world in all shapes and sizes, each of them a stellar example of magazine-making circa 2013 (or 2012 for some).

This book really could have been subtitled "The Triumph of Independent Publishing," because the core of the book is represented by the thriving indie scene that Leslie has promoted so enthusiastically (and smartly) on his Magculture site. "The basic alchemy of manipulating text and image on a page--visual journalism--has never been easier," says Leslie, "printing small numbers of copies has never been cheaper, and, in the hands of top practitioners, the results never more exciting."(Photo via Magculture and Francesco Franchi)… MORE