The American Flag [Hardcover]

Whitney Smith (Author, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

This deluxe gift set features a large 3-by-5 foot American flag, perfect for showing off your patriotism. The perfect gift for summer visiting!

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barn doors, smalltown porches, a sizable swath of pavement on the Mall in Washington, D.C., Jasper Johns paintings, digital art, neon lights and the big blue sky are some of Old Glory's backdrops in The American Flag, a photographic tribute. With an introduction by Whitney Smith, dozens of unattributed images and an actual three-foot-by-five-foot flag, readers can enjoy a ready-made, easy-on-the-eyes patriotism. Book and flag come in a nice package and would make a fine gift for the fervent.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

These two new publications celebrate the American flag as an icon in very different ways. Author, graphic designer, and collector Hinrichs offers a striking visual history of America's flag in its many different depictions. His 3000-piece collection, some of which is showcased in Long May She Wave, was recently exhibited at the American Institute of Graphic Arts. The flag appears in various roles, including as a celebratory object, an art and folk object, and a political symbol. Rather than actual flags, this book shows the familiar stars and stripes in an endless array of forms, from a war protest pin to Cheyenne moccasins to a Barbie doll's dress. Each item is identified, and the date and dimensions are provided when available. Several entries have descriptive annotations.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 72 pages
• Publisher: Friedman/Fairfax Publishing (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567996604
• ISBN-13: 978-1567996609
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 9.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,022,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You'll have flagging interest in this book., March 1, 2003

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The American Flag Book & Gift Set (Hardcover)

I don't know if this is a case of buy a book and get a flag or the other way round, either way the flag comes off best, it's three by five foot and made of filament polyester. As to the book I think Old Glory deserves better, there are sixty-two photos in seventy-two pages and many of them are blurred (not because the flag is fluttering in the wind) or over enlarged, a few of them are really not worth including. The images came from stock photo agencies, a page in the back of the book gives their names and pages numbers, only the book has no page numbers (this might give you an idea about seriously the publishers took this production) so there are no photographer's credits or captions to tell you where or when each photo was taken. Of course some of the photos are worth looking at, one of the flag made of neon certainly is and several of the outdoor ones are arresting.

At the start of the book Whitney Smith of the Flag Research Center writes a short essay about the origins of the flag but does not include a diagram about how to fold it correctly or say anything about the strong and enduring symbolism of the twelve folds. For a package that includes a real flag I feel this is a major omission.

Far better than `The American Flag', are two books by leading American graphic designer Kit Hinrichs, `Stars& Stripes' has the work of ninety-six designers and their graphic interpretations of the flag. A book of coffee table proportions and stunningly designed is `Long May She Wave', it features hundreds of images from Hinrichs own huge flag collection. Finally, have a look at `United We Stand' by Peter Gwillim Kreitler, a lovely little paperback with 106 magazine covers from July 1942 all of which have the flag as a prominent part of the cover design. Stirring stuff!