Books about Magazines and the People Who Make Them
Blitt
By Barry Blitt
Read it because: it’s like spending an entire day with this genius/nebbish artist. You’ll get all the laughs, all the fragility, and all the neuroticism.
Art of The Times
By JC Suares
Read it because: it’s an amazing archive of the Times, before color. Also: Brad Holland.
The Vanity Fair Diaries (1983–1992)
By Tina Brown
Read it because: the idea of spending a weekend curled up in your jammies with one of the most extraordinary editors of all time makes you feel all the things.
Anna: The Biography
By Amy Odell
Read it because: you’re dying to know what’s going on behind those dark glasses.
Art of McSweeney’s
By Dave Eggers
Read it because: whatever McSweeney’s is selling, you’re buying.
Like a Rolling Stone
By Jann Wenner
Read it because: Jann was probably the guy who turned you on to magazines.
50 Years of Ms.
The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution
By Gloria Steinem
Read it because: you heard Gloria on the podcast and just want a few more minutes with her.
The Accidental Life: An Editor’s Notes on Writing and Writers
By Terry McDonell
Read it because: because sitting down and doing the nitty gritty with your editor is one of the greatest things about making magazines.
Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine
By Joe Hagan
Read it because: you read Jann’s version (see below) and felt like maybe there’s a little more to the story.
Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York
By Steven Heller
Read it because: Steve, a ubiquitous presence your whole career, was once arrested for being a pornographer.
Not Pretty Enough: The Unlikely Triumph of Helen Gurley Brown
By Gerri Hirshey
Read it because: you had no idea that HGB grew up incredibly poor in the Ozarks, was anorexic before it was a thing, was cripplingly insecure, and was a card-carrying sexual dynamo, who changed women’s lives.
The 10 Influential Creators for Magazine Design
By Yashushi Fujimoto
Read it because: the avant garde nature of the indie mags feature is now the norm.
Object Lessons: Magazine
By Jeff Jarvis
Read it because: this is the BTS story of the launch of Entertainment Weekly you didn’t know you needed to read. Bonus: Jarvis tells us what went wrong with publishing.
Citizen Newhouse: Portrait of a Media Merchant
By Carol Felsenthal
Read it because: what you thought you knew about Condé Nast’s excess doesn’t even scratch the surface. Also: Si takes an incredible beating here.
