Author Steve Heller is an astute cultural observer and historian. He sees and hears the icons of culture and uses a flowing narrative style to pin them down for the rest of us to examine.

Heller shines the spotlight of his analysis on two-dimensional graphic design. He looks at the way an advertising page is laid out, at the impact of the typographic styles utilized, and also at how the content--the actual text--interacts with the other elements. Distorted language is as important as distorted visual design in his research. Heller's explorations do not stop with the words. He also looks into the impact of commercial and industrial design.

As he states, "Pop culture is often maligned as fleeting. But history shows that sometimes what is pop in one culture has time-honored resonance in later ones . . . this book is an attempt to show that pop culture, especially as seen through the lens of design, illustration, satiric and political art . . . is integral to a broader understanding of who we are and where we are going."

No part of the cultural mix seems to escape Heller's scrutiny. The book is a valuable tour guide for those who weren't there to watch the phenomena he describes.

--Reviewer Martin A. David for the New York Journal of Books