- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Allworth Press,U.S. (1 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1581150415
- ISBN-13: 978-1581150414
- Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 16 x 1.4 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,041,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
“Force[s] even the most sophisticated to rethink and rework their ideas of how images work in the world.”—School Library Journal
This acclaimed examination of the most powerful symbol ever created is now available in paperback. The rise and fall of the swastika, and its mysteries and misunderstandings, are fully explained and explored. Readers will be captivated by the twists and turns of the symbol’s fortunes, from its pre-Nazi religious and commercial uses, to the Nazi appropriation and misuse of the form, to its contemporary applications as both a racist and an apolitical logo. In a new afterword, author Steven Heller discusses the controversy around ideas to ban the symbol and public reaction to the book since it was first published. This is a classic story, masterfully told, about how one graphic symbol can endure and influence culture for generations.
• Traces the history of the swastika, from religious symbol to reviled symbol
• More than 175 illustrations
• Powerful examination of the impact of one graphic symbol on society --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
This acclaimed examination of the most powerful symbol ever created is now available in paperback. The rise and fall of the swastika, and its mysteries and misunderstandings, are fully explained and explored. Readers will be captivated by the twists and turns of the symbol’s fortunes, from its pre-Nazi religious and commercial uses, to the Nazi appropriation and misuse of the form, to its contemporary applications as both a racist and an apolitical logo. In a new afterword, author Steven Heller discusses the controversy around ideas to ban the symbol and public reaction to the book since it was first published. This is a classic story, masterfully told, about how one graphic symbol can endure and influence culture for generations.
• Traces the history of the swastika, from religious symbol to reviled symbol
• More than 175 illustrations
• Powerful examination of the impact of one graphic symbol on society --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (6 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, 5 Mar 2008
By lordhoot "lordhoot" - Published on Amazon.com
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!, 18 Sep 2004
By John Abraytis - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Swastika: a 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, 20 Sep 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Swastika: a 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.
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