Men's Adventure Magazines: In Postwar America [Hardcover]

Rich Oberg (Author), Steven Heller (Author), Max Allan Collins (Author), George Hagenauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Paying homage to the American periodicals of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s that documented outrageous exploits, this hefty, comprehensive guide is packed full of colorful cover art, sumptuous sample spreads, and enlightening essays.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steven Heller, a senior art director of the New York Times and co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design program, is the author of over one hundred books on design, popular culture, and satiric art. In addition to writing for over a dozen TASCHEN titles, his recent books include Design Literacy Second Edition, Stylepedia, and The Education of a Graphic Designer. Collector Rich Oberg saw his first men's adventure magazine on a Piggly Wiggly grocery store magazine rack in 1968 and decided that maybe shopping with mom wasn't so bad after all. He began collecting the magazines and the original art that graced their covers in 1982 and now maintains the largest known collection in the United States. Max Allan Collins is a novelist and filmmaker fighting nature in Iowa (indoors). His novel Road to Purgatory is the sequel to his famed Road to Perdition, the basis of the motion picture starring Tom Hanks. He is also the author of the Nathan Heller novels, which have won him a Life Achievement Award from the Historical Mystery Appreciation Society. For over 20 years, George Hagenauer has been Collins's research associate, assisting on over two-dozen historical novels and collaborating with him on the Edgar Award-nominated The History of Mystery. His own freelance writing has been in the true crime field. He lives in Wisconsin.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; 25th edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3836503123
• ISBN-13: 978-3836503129
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real sweat...FOR MEN!, October 1, 2004

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Men's Adventure Magazines (Paperback)

This latest Taschen pop culture book covers the 'armpit slicks' of the American post war years and it will most likely turn out to be the definitive guide to these magazines. The seven chapters more or less cover all the adventure any male would want (or be able to handle) ferocious animals, sex-crazed pirates, restless natives, death on the front line, Nazis passion slaves, red and yellow perils and lastly, just plain ordinary trouble down your street. All of this action is revealed in over a thousand covers, either one (almost life-size) or four to a page and they are all beautifully reproduced.

The introduction reveals the history of the men's adventure mags and it seems that the 1958 Supreme Court decision to weaken the Government's ability to regulate printed obscenity encouraged this rather small corner of the media to expand the market with plenty of new titles, fortunately they only lasted a few years before morphing into 'skin' magazines of the Eighties and Nineties. Yet despite being able to be very explicit with cover art the publications avoided showing the prominent females in any situation that could be considered obscene (shock, horror!) but look through chapter five (A bonfire in hell for the Nazis' passion slaves) and see plenty of illustrations showing helpless, bound females subjected to extreme depravity and torture.

As well as the garish bright illustrations, which I expect basically sold them on the newsstands, the cover lines clinched the sale, a whole bunch of men could not resist buying and reading (really!) for example, New Man's Peril, January 1965, with these lines, Crazy cats who pretend they're chicks, We smashed the nympho virgin ring of the Pasha pimps, The tattoo gang's vicious kidnap torture of the society debs and The bizarre "ugly parties" of London's kink cultists. All for a mere thirty-five cents, too. At the back of the book a short piece about the publishers of these magazines says the quality ranged from the competent to the sub-literate, how very true.

This book examines the same cover material as 'It's a Man's World' by Adam Parfrey (ISBN 09229915814) which came out in 2003, it had a bit more text and a very informative title and artist listing but I prefer the Taschen book because it so visually comprehensive and looks a much better production. Besides the covers there are examples of editorial art used to illustrate the 'true' articles plus a biography of writers and thirty-five artists.

These titles seem to be uniquely American and 'Men's Adventure Magazines' does a beautiful job of covering this extinct format.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Weasels Ripped my Flesh!, October 20, 2005

By 

S. Wik "postalmeister" (AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Men's Adventure Magazines (Paperback)

While I agree with other reviewers that Feral House's "It's A Man's World" is a vastly superior book, This is still a nice collection of images for the purveyor of unique Americana.

I collect these insane artifacts and there just can't possibly be enough books published on the subject. SO BUY 'EM ALL!

The "normal" Pulps have ignored and hidden away their retarded younger brother for too long. It's time to let him out of the cellar. Try to find a book on the history of "The Pulps" that admits these lurid items were the final incarnation of the format! YOU CAN'T! All those authors are ashamed to admit the legacy that fostered The Shadow, Tarzan and Conan ended brutally with the Men's Adventure Magazines. Now the truth is out. YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Anyway, buy Feral House's book first, then buy this one too. It makes a decent addendum to the Feral House book. You can never have too much lurid art to amaze your friends with...

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like all Taschen books, a beauty, September 4, 2005

By 

skeptic (Northeast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Men's Adventure Magazines (Paperback)

This book was a trip down memory lane for me; I got a kick out those lurid men's-magazine covers in my youth, and today I get... well, a surge of nostalgia, if no longer quite the same charge. The volume is beautifully produced, like all Taschen books, though I have to add that I find it no better than a similar compendium of men's-mag art called IT'S A MAN'S WORLD, which came out six months earlier; and IAMW, it should be said, has a more extensive and entertaining text.