The National Enquirer: Thirty Years of Unforgettable Images - Hardcover

Mahler, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786868481 ISBN 13: 9780786868483

Publisher: Miramax, 2001

Synopsis

For more than thirty years, The National Enquirer has put us on a first-name basis with stars, villains, beauties, cads, and killers bringing remarkable stories to life with breathtaking photos that pack an emotional punch and often break news in themselves. This is a sumptuous, mesmerizing selection of the most memorable photos from The National Enquirer history.

About this title

Review:

The splashy photo spreads in The National Enquirer: Thirty Years of Unforgettable Images prove that the Enquirer has become what Life magazine was in its day: the image bank of American pop culture. They're all here, big as life--or, in the cases of Elvis, Ted Bundy, John Lennon, Grace Kelly, and River Phoenix, big news in their coffin close-ups. The photos are haunting: Columbine High killer Eric Harris at age 6 in a skeleton-with-bloody-skull-mask Halloween costume; Eric Clapton and his son just hours before the boy's window plunge. The book has lots of laughs, too: Bryant Gumbel and Matt Lauer getting a lap dance from three transsexual waitresses; Van Damme with his third and fourth wives on either arm (in identical dresses). Witty layouts predominate: weirdly well preserved Michelle Phillips and a mummy pose opposite a little girl and Michael Jackson (whose nose is disintegrating). The glimmer of glamour vies with the shock of decay--often in images of the same celeb. Watch Liza morph from tot to sot! A feast for inquiring minds. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly:

O.J. Tonya Harding. Jim and Tammy Faye. Monica. The lurid images of our collective unconscious return in this paperback edition of 2001's lush coffee table photo gallery from America's most prestigious celebrity scandal sheet. Included is former Talk editor Jonathan Mahler's short history of the Enquirer, from its early days as a mob-funded purveyor of pulp to its current status as a pillar of the ever-more-tabloidized mainstream, as well as an intro from American Media editorial director Steve Coz. Really, though, it's all about the pictures. The emphasis is on the profanation of the sacred through the display of movie stars, über-models and rock deities in all their aging, haggard, strung-out, stubbly humanity. Few come off looking good aside from those-like JonBenet Ramsey-who are bathed in the glamour of imminent martyrdom. The editors even reprint mug shots and high school yearbook photos. Lengthy captions give all the juicy details, but the wittiest commentary is the thematic arrangement of facing-page photos: father-daughter relationships are exemplified by a hugging Aaron and Tori Spelling and a smooching Woody and Soon-Yi, while another pointed match-up pairs a photo of a mummified ghoul with one of Michael Jackson. You should put it down, but you just can't.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Miramax
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0786868481
• ISBN 13: 9780786868483
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 255
• Editor: Melcher Charles, Virga Valerie, Keeps David A.