Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The most famous designs of the twentieth century are not those in museums, but in the marketplace. The Coca-Cola bottle and the MacDonald's logo are known all over the world, and designs like the modernistic `Frankfurt Kitchen' of 1926, or the 1954 streamlined and tail-finned Oldsmobile, or `Blow', the inflatable chair ubiquitous in the late sixties, tell us more about our culture than a narrowly-defined canon of classics. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship (not only in design history but also in social anthropology and women's history), Jonathan Woodham takes a fresh look at the wider issues of design and industrial culture throughout Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and the Far East. He explores themes such as national identity, the `Americanisation' of ideology and business methods, the rise of the multi-nationals, Pop and Postmodernism, and contemporary ideas of nostalgia and heritage, and sets the proliferation of everyday design against the writing of critics as different as Nikolaus Pevsner, the champion of Modernism, and Vance Packard, author of The Hidden Persuaders. In the history which emerges design is clearly seen for what it is: the powerful and complex expression of aesthetic, social, economic, political, and technological forces.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

One of the first six volumes of the new Oxford series, this is a useful and concise summary of 20th-century design in both the Western industrialized world and the Far East. Woodham (history of design, Univ. of Brighton) freely admits that some influences, such as multiculturalism, perestroika, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, have been omitted in hopes that this will enhance future studies in these areas. The work reads like a global who's who of designers, architects, cultural and national design organizations, and corporate icons. Each of the ten chapters focuses on a component of design, such as modernism, consumerism, reconstruction after World War II, nostalgia and heritage, and social responsibility. The illustrations fit the text and reflect classic design examples. Woodham successfully highlights design as a powerful marketing tool that has captured the international consumer through culture, socioeconomics, politics, and technology. Highly recommended.‘Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tenn. State Univ. Lib., Johnson City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This well-written and illustrated work focuses on the impact design has had on the marketplace and consumer. Matters of taste and public consumption have created some of the most famous icons of the 20th century, and their creation and rise as world-class cultural symbols are documented and surveyed here. Woodham (Univ. of Brighton), an able scholar and leading authority on the development of design history as an academic discipline, presents a refreshing and exciting viewpoint. The contents are divided into ten chronological chapters with ample black-and-white and color examples spread over 200 pages. A comprehensive section follows, listing notes, illustrations, and bibliographic essays--the last providing additional reference for further study. A handy but limited eight-page time line traces world events and design developments in Europe, North America, and East Asia. The book is recommended as a quality supplement to art and/or design history courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. D. Ichiyama Purdue University

Booklist Review

The Oxford University Press has long published works that combine scholarliness with accessibility. The Oxford History of Art series exemplifies their signature style with the added value of gorgeous reproductions. The series promises to be a grand and inclusive series of truly global dimensions. Each of the inaugural five volumes presents sumptuous reproductions and dynamic syntheses of artistic and historical themes. The authors offer fresh and stimulating theories of how art has defined and challenged national and regional identities and mirrored or questioned officially sanctioned gender roles and class divisions. In the three volumes about art in Europe and China, the authors, art historians with impeccable credentials and engaging prose styles, carefully resurrect neglected or forgotten artists; trace important artist-mentor relationships; reveal the nexus between art, religion, and politics; explore the connections between fine and decorative arts; and track the symbiotic evolution of art and technology, a theme found front and center stage in the series' excellent volumes on photography and twentieth-century design. With nearly 50 projected titles, the Oxford History of Art will become a mainstay in art history collections. --Donna Seaman

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Jonathan M. Woodham is Director of the Design History Research Centre, University of Brighton, and Review Editor of Journal of Design History. His publications Twentieth-Century Ornament: Decoration from 1900 to the Present (Studio Vista, 1990).