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Title: When Design Overtakes Content
Review: I was drawn to this book on the shelf, and optimistic upon leafing through it. There's a great use of typography and white space not often seen in historical publications of this nature. But perhaps there's a reason for that...This is a great example of a book's design taking precedence over its subject matter. While the grid use and minimalist photo treatment is stylish and contemporary, it's not conducive to this particular audience--an audience expecting to enjoy larger, more detailed photographs and content.I don't entirely blame the designer for the book's failure, either--it was a mistake for the publisher to call it "Definitive", when it truly isn't. This only makes the design flaw more glaring.Students of design may find the book more interesting than Civil War buffs. It's a beautifully designed book--it's just that in this instance, the design is very wrong for the subject matter.
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