Comments on: The Ballad of Abu Ghraib, an open question

By: EJ

EJ — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:54:09 +0000

Ballad? A book of songs?
One author or two?

By: Ian Shimkoviak

Ian Shimkoviak — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:03:15 +0000

Strong, forceful, almost newspaper headline-like. It says what it needs to say without the gimmicks of using photos of detainees or prisoners etc.

By: Ricardo Cordoba

Ricardo Cordoba — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:47:03 +0000

Correction: the hardcover jacket uses red, not orange (if the cover image on Amazon.com can be trusted).

By: Ricardo Cordoba

Ricardo Cordoba — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:35:49 +0000

I'm not in love with the new title (maybe someone thought that putting "Abu Ghraib" in the title would sell more copies), but I did notice that the hardcover jacket used the same colors (black, white, and orange). I do like this cover, though. And one thing that just occurred to me is that neither of the covers makes any reference to the film that was released in conjunction with the book. I had the impression that they were companion pieces (although I could be mistaken).

By: Estelle

Estelle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:11:12 +0000

I think this style of cover consciously references Penguin’s low-key, classical cover design approach in such a way to interpellate Penguin readers no matter what kind of titles they usually pick up. It’s incredibly immediate, classical, appropriate, balanced. I respond to this type of cover much more strongly than I do one that’s heavily image-based. Don’t know backlist covers well enough to say whether it’s a definite reference to another cover, but I love it. And I think it works with Gourevitch’s Atticus Finch-level standing as an author.

By: Mark Melnick

Mark Melnick — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:43:54 +0000

I do love this, and responded to it right away. Hyper-simple but effective. No idea if it’s referencing anything in the Penguin past, but I would bet not. The new title, though, is odd … Kind of a strange subject to interject wit … “Standard Operating Procedure” was very literal and very effective, in my opinion.

By: Nate Salciccioli

Nate Salciccioli — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:09:13 +0000

If I saw this on the shelf, I’d pick it up. If it inspires me, it does so by my imagining of what it took to have this cover selected w/o a picture of Abu Ghraib. It works.