Brilliant.
The dustjacket flap explains things rather well: "This book treats the poster both as art and as historical witness. Posters are not relegated to the secondary role of illustrating an historical text nor are they trated as autonomous aesthetic objects.... Rather, they are substantial components of an historical narrative that is made up of both image and text."
And, true to this perspective, this book honors both text and image. The images are stunning, reproduced in color with a large amount of detail and texture. In this 232 page book, there are well over 300 illustrations. Each poster is annotated and the text draws attention to similarities and differences.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Note on the Posters
Prologue: Before 1914
The First World War (pp 10-99)
The Interwar Years (pp 100-141)
The Second World War (pp 142-213)
Epilogue
Editorial Note
Bibliographical Note
List of Posters
Index of Artists