UBC: Kerrigan, WWII Abandoned Places

World War II Abandoned Places by Michael Kerrigan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the four book series I wrote under my real name, the Doctrine of Labyrinths, I invented the word "mikkary" to describe the feeling you get in an abandoned building. This book is FULL OF MIKKARY OMFG. So it's horrible and sad, and yet there's also something oddly comforting about the way that the forests and deserts and oceans are reclaiming the bunkers and the wrecked planes, and apparently colonies of rare bats roost in the farther reaches of the underground corridors of Miedzyrzecz.

The photographs are beautiful and just utterly fascinating. Highly recommended.



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UBC: Posters of the First World War

Posters of the First World War by Richard Slocombe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is exactly what it says it is, but it's also a beautifully designed little book and it has posters from England, Germany, Austro-Hungary (in both German and what must be Hungarian), Australia, Canada, India, Russia, America, and they're all freakin' amazing. Propaganda, yes, but also just beautiful. (There's the famous Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War? poster which is at once a horrible piece of passive aggressive blackmail and a beautiful piece of Art Nouveau.)

Of course, they represent the tragedy of WWI perfectly in that regard, because the beautiful ideals of the posters are what were sending all those thousands of young men to die brutal, horrible deaths in the trenches. There's one of a guy actually charging toward the viewer on a horse.

I picked this up in Half-Price Books for like 8 or 9 dollars, and it was totally worth it.



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