The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? [Hardcover]

Steven Heller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2000

This is the first incisive and revealing exploration of the meaning, mysteries, and misunderstanding of the most powerful symbol in the history of mankind. The book analyzes the swastika's pre-Nazi religious and commercial uses in all of its varied permutations, the Nazi appropriation and misuses of the form, and its contemporary applications as both a racist and an apolitical icon. Tracing the symbol to its beginnings in antiquity, the author explores the myth and cult of swastika lore and its evolving use as a commercial trademark and logo, then speculates on the future of the symbol in two final, thought-provoking chapters, "The Swastika Revisited: Today and Tomorrow" and "Hitler's Children: Rock and Roll."

Steven Heller, a New York Times senior art director, AIGA Journal of Graphic Design editor, and author of more than seventy books, lives in New York.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-Heller does a laudable job of providing the pre-20th-century history, the Nazi-associated infamy, and the punk-era appropriation of this graphical image. The clear, comprehensive, and cogent narrative is illustrated with abundant prints that range from symbol dictionaries and propaganda posters to photos of architecture and textile designs. The author brings into stark illumination how thoroughly the emblem has come to embody Nazi ideology and how its meaning has been changed for, seemingly, all subsequent generations. This is a book that is accessible in language and content to most readers, yet it will force even the most sophisticated to rethink and rework their ideas of how images work in the world. A valuable purchase for school and public libraries, as well as for art and design collections.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Steven Heller is the co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program and co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism and MFA in Interaction Design programs at the School of Visual Arts, New York. For thirty- three years he was an art director at the New York Times, and currently writes the “Visuals” column for the New York Times Book Review. He is editor of the AIGA VOICE: Online Journal of Design and contributing editor to Print, EYE, Baseline, and ID magazines. He contributes to Design Observer and writes the DAILY HELLER blog for Print magazine. He is the author or editor of over 130 books on design and popular culture, including Design Literacy, Design Disasters, Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig, and Vintage Type and Graphics. He is the recipient of the 1999 AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Heller lives in New York. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press (February 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581150415
• ISBN-13: 978-1581150414
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven Heller, author and editor of over 130 books on graphic design, satiric art and popular culture, is the co-founder and co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. He is also co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism, MFA in Interaction Design, MFA Social Documentary Film and MPS Branding programs. Although he does not hold an undergraduate or graduate degree he has devoted much of his career to fostering design education venues, opportunities and environments.

On the editorial side, for over 40 years he has been an art director for various underground and mainstream periodicals. For 33 years he was an art director at the New York Times (28 of them as senior art director New York Times Book Review). He currently writes the "Visuals" column for the Book Review and "Graphic Content" for the T-Style/The Moment blog (http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/author/steven-heller/). He is editor of AIGA VOICE: Online Journal of Design, a contributing editor to Print, EYE, and Baseline, and a frequent contributor to Metropolis and ID magazines. He contributes regularly to Design Observer and writes the DAILY HELLER blog for Print Magazine (http://blog.printmag.com/dailyheller/). His 135 books include "Design Literacy, " "Paul Rand," "Graphic Style" (with Seymour Chwast), "Stylepedia" (with Louise Fili), "The Design Entrepreneur" and "Design School Confidential" (both with Lita Talarico), "Iron Fists: Branding the Twentieth Century Totalitarian State", and the most recent, "Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig."

He is the recipient of the 1999 AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement. His website is www.hellerbooks.com and his blog, The Daily Heller sponsored by Print magazine is http://imprint.printmag.com/daily-heller/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History of the Swastika Before and After Hitler, March 4, 2008

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? (Paperback)

In a relatively a short book, less then 160 pages, the author Stephen Heller managed to recount the history and usages of this notorious symbol used by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. The book is filled of illustrations showing how this symbol were used by many cultures from many lands across the face of this planet thousands of years prior to Hitler's Third Reich. Hitler's claims that swastika is a pure "Aryan" symbol mocked his own understanding of this symbol. It pretty clear by author's assertions that swastika have been used by many for various purposes. Some of the most interesting aspects the author brought up was that swastika was the symbol the Girl's Club in the United States during the early of the 20th century and each of their magazine covers had swastika all over it.

Although the author touched on the Asian usage of the swastika, he fell little short regarding the Asian elements of the swastika and its meanings. When my father was stationed in Japan, I had a chance to see many swastikas on Japanese temples and surprised to see swastikas adopted into some of the Japanese samurai families' mon (family crest) during that era of history. One of the more funnier things I have seen was reading a Japanese map and seeing all these red swastikas on the map - each of them showing the location of a temple or a shrine. One of my friends who didn't know any better asked once if that map is showing where all the Nazis live in this area.

The author also wrote some interesting stuff on whether this symbol can ever be save from how we see it today, symbol of evil, racism and hate. The book came to a regretful conclusion that as long as there are large numbers of racists and anti-Semites out there using the swastika for their own purpose and with its history, this symbol can never be reclaim in innocence. In some way, the swastika's fate can be linked with the Confederate Battle Flag. Both will always be associated with racism and hate as long as there are people who will used it as such.

Overall, a very useful book and interesting reading material to anyone who wants to know more about this symbol which apparently been hijacked permanently by Adolf Hitler and those like him.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SPLENDID!, September 17, 2004

By 

John Abraytis (Melrose Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? (Hardcover)

Here's three good things about this book.

First, the 157 pages of text provide a comprehensive overview of the history of the you-know-what-symbol. The swastika. There's a lot of interesting revelations. For example, the swastika appears to be the oldest symbol uncovered anywhere, and is found in just about every culture and civilization, everywhere and at any time in History. I mean, it was everywhere!

Second, the book provides dozens of reproductions of the swastika, in a myriad of variants, including on cigar labels, poker chips, cards, as a shoulder patch for the U.S. Army (1918), and on a monthly American magazine for young girls, entitled: "The Swastika: Written, Issued and Read by The Girl's Club."

Finally, the author is a graphic designer, and a darn good one. The book itself--the size, the color, the paper, the setting of the text, the brilliant and varied reproductions--these all delighted me, and I hope they delight you.

Not only that, consider that the bookjacket has to be one of the most extreme, hardcore bookcovers in history. The cover shows a black swastika, on a white circle, on a red background. One glance at it, and you'll know why the swastika is the most powerful symbol ever created. Forever sinister, the swastika today is the only symbol that you can write with a pen on the border of the daily paper, that has acquired the status of "genetically evil." Those scribblings on the notepad--they will never be redeemed! Hollywood is calling.

Take a peek.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying Visual Anthropology, September 20, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? (Hardcover)

What a pleasure it is to experience the work of an author who has total command over his material. In a slender 160 pages, the author explains -- in both words and pictures -- the mythology, anthropology, abuse, and endurance of this fascinating and lurid symbol. This is one of the most interesting books on fascist regalia written in recent years.