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Political Sign

Tobias Carroll (Goodreads Author),

Christopher Schaberg (Editor),

Ian Bogost (Editor)

3.92 · Rating details · 13 ratings · 6 reviews

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

In an election year, political signs can be impossible to avoid. They're in front yards, on bumper stickers, and in some places you might never have expected. Tobias Carroll chronicles the permutations and secret histories of political signs, venturing into the story o ...more

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Paperback, 192 pages

Published September 3rd 2020 by Bloomsbury Academic

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Object Lessons series, Bloomsbury Books

66 books — 6 voters

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Nov 27, 2020 Paige Mcgreevy rated it it was amazing

I was super entranced by this book. It was fascinating to think about my own experiences with political signs in the various countries I have lived and how Tobias Carroll’s learnings can be so easily applied no matter the location. I’ll be digesting this one for a while to come!

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Apr 16, 2020 Peter Baran rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction-2020

This is the first of Bloomsbury Object Lesson series I have read, a short monograph style on a particular piece of ephemera, trying to knit together a brief history, with thoughts and discussions on the importance of that item. As such this is probably an odd one compared to say the one on Trains or Bulletproof Vests - as what consists a Political Sign is a very broad church. And this is also an openly personal take on the subject, Carroll talks about his own history with political signs as some This is the first of Bloomsbury Object Lesson series I have read, a short monograph style on a particular piece of ephemera, trying to knit together a brief history, with thoughts and discussions on the importance of that item. As such this is probably an odd one compared to say the one on Trains or Bulletproof Vests - as what consists a Political Sign is a very broad church. And this is also an openly personal take on the subject, Carroll talks about his own history with political signs as someone in his early forties growing up in New Jersey his first interactions with them would be electoral lawn signs, and placards at a Equal Rights Amendment rally. But also he is open about his politics, what the major influences are (US 80's punk primarily - though Ann Nocienti's Daredevil run gets name checked a surprising amount) and how that feeds into the book. So this is oddly 80% about political signs, 20% memoir.

What the book therefore lacks in rigour it gains in bouncey narrative flow as we jump from placards, to Dead Kennedy album covers, to Labour's Not Working to right wing tattoos. It is both to large a subject - the history of political signage is basically a history of politics, and too narrow a focus - it is mainly his lifetime and mainly US (with a small sop of Britishness for the publisher). But then the point of this kind of monograph is not to be exhaustive, or even particularly authoritative, it is instead to start or help along a conversation, and to spur and make connections where none previously exist. So perhaps any caveat I have is just that Carroll's is representative of a voice I hear too much and have heard on this and similar subjects because he is - a little younger, and a little more American - me. Open-minded, left wing, semiotically savvy, dubious of the actual point of political signage but at the same time often infuriated by it. I didn't walk away with many new ideas, and whilst I enjoyed the short study, it already feels dated despite its most recent textual reference being in late 2019.. That's not its fault, and would always be the case when writing about mass media (though the pandemic has chipped away at it), but there you go.

(Reviewed as a NetGalley ARC) ...more

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Apr 18, 2020 Theediscerning rated it really liked it

This series of books – the list of which will soon breach a second page in every edition, so long it's getting, no matter the font shrinking – is designed to discuss semi-academically something we routinely find around us, or don't realise is culturally significant enough to have a non-fiction book dedicated to it. They're not for the specialists regarding each and every topic, for they're designed to be for the lay browser, in a collect-the-set fashion. This book, on the political sign, is one This series of books – the list of which will soon breach a second page in every edition, so long it's getting, no matter the font shrinking – is designed to discuss semi-academically something we routinely find around us, or don't realise is culturally significant enough to have a non-fiction book dedicated to it. They're not for the specialists regarding each and every topic, for they're designed to be for the lay browser, in a collect-the-set fashion. This book, on the political sign, is one of the better ones, taking us from the hand-held placard at protests, to torching yourself at said protests, through tifos and tattoos, and up to the Three Billboards-sized one name, one party indicator, maximum-sized minimalism.

The book has quite a few elephants in the room, and that's not a pun on one of those US parties. It's definitely very much concentrated on the United States, however, and when it does venture into the UK it does so with much less sureness of foot. Our author declares the Leave side in the Brexit debate had signs that proclaimed lies. Er, and the losing side didn't? I hoped (in vain, I later saw) this is not the author's bias in evidence. You'll possibly remember how the Remainers were shouting the victors down for 'lies' printed on the side of a bus in large letters. Only the Remainers ever thought those letters had actually been believed. One more elephant – the book cried out for illustration; I didn't recognise the Obama emblem mentioned and had to look it up with the new knowledge it was a pro-Obama sticker, and not a Soviet Union postage stamp with precognition.

What we think of in the UK as political signs are only one of two things, generally – either a sorry scrap of paper with red ink in a council house window, or a large blue wooden thing dumped at the end of a rich land-owner's farm drive. Funny that. People in England can seek green and yellow ones in vain these days. But this book is actually really wide-ranging, covering the legitimacy of the political message from sportswomen and -men, efforts to ban the roadside statement of intent (which might influence nobody, just decide for you which of your neighbours you'll feel friendly towards in future), and so much more.

And the spread of political signs is only going to grow. In the last British General Election copious f*c*book images pretended to show actual signs and adverts from the Tories. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid about their funereal black, and nobody seemed to notice they were stuck over the insurmountable underground train air vents. The numbers of people falling so gullibly for fake signs, at a sophistication of almost "ban beards" or "kill NHS staff" level, was only one reason why political signs need to be learnt about. There are small flaws to this book, but it's a welcome, intelligent and thorough survey, actually for both academe and said tube commuter. ...more

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Dec 01, 2020 Pamela rated it really liked it

Shelves: politics-political, type-pre_pub, type-essays, non_fiction, notes

With the recent ending of the 2020 U.S. election season over, at least as far as voting, I figured I could approach this book. Honestly, there is way too many political signs, commercials, mailers and everything else thrown at you for long months when there’s an upcoming election. It can become exhausting just sifting through the daily mail of circulars by the various candidates.

There is a good reason behind that, which Tobias Carroll points out early on, which is name recognition. That is one ...more

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Jun 12, 2020 CJ rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-non-fiction, netgalley, own, novella, series, quick-easy-read, villains-need-love-too

Another great entry into the Bloomsbury Academic Object Lessons series. It was interesting and thought-provoking, but even with the detour into punk vs politics, it was missing some of the whimsy I have grown to expect from the series.

Unfortunately for Carroll, he asks the exact question I have been asking continually, for years: "what happens when a politician lies.". It is a question that bookends a chapter, so there is no answer given ... probably because the answer is nothing &*^%$# happens ...more

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Dec 31, 2020 Laura Hoffman Brauman rated it really liked it

This is one of my favorites in the Object Lessons series. Carroll looks at all types of political signs - from yard signs to bumper stickers, billboard, and even the most personal of political signs -- tattoos and examines why they are used and what makes people use them. He explores the concept of media literacy which he defines understanding why something is being broadcast - figuratively or literally - in front of you. I liked the mix of personal anecdotes with analysis. Carroll's writing is ...more

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