1000 Flags: Banners and Ensigns

by Elisabeth Dumont Le Cornec, Élisabeth Dumont-Le Cornec

A guide to the world's flags, their history and design. Did you know that the flag of the United States has been modified 32 times? And that the Jolly Roger is still flown today? Every flag raised through time has a remarkable history tied to the identity and history of whoever is flying it. 1000 Flags reveals the significance and meaning of a flag's graphic components and introduces the major types of flag, with additional focus on the unusual and the unexpected. The book Topics of special focus include the genesis of the Union Jack; the most used colors; the birth of a flag; confederation flags, such as Panafrican and the European Union; LGBTQ and friends flags, such as Leather Fetish and Genderfluid Pride; and Racing Flags. By way of a fascinating survey of flag design, 1000 Flags provides a unique overview of world geopolitics, history, and political movements. It is an interesting reference book and will be a long-lived selection for schools, libraries and retail.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2020

Reviews

[jedioffsidetrap · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice illustrations of nations as well as groups, NGOs & ethnic/indigenous groups. It attempts to group flags & give statistics on designs but fumbles a good bit.

There were poorly phrased statements (eg: that 74% of all flags have three horizontal stripes, when it is meant to be just horizontal stripes of any number, p. 40; and “75% of flags have three vertical stripes” when it means 75% of flags with vertical stripes have three, p. 42) and inconsistent stats (p. 42: “22 flags have three vertical stripes; p. 200 only shows 21). On page 121, the Macau and Hong Kong flags labels are transposed. So that’s terrible.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked- Brief histories relevant to flags, high quality color images of the flags, well organized

Issues — There are a few blunders. As other reviewers have pointed out the labels are swapped for the flags of Macau and Hong Kong on page 121, which is just criminal. On page 126, it’s written that the Union Jack on the flag of Hawaii, “recalls when Hawaii was under British rule.” This is utterly false. Hawaii was never under British rule. This kind of thing makes me doubt other historical facts presented in the book. There are some times when phrases like, “some people say x…” are used without any sort of citation or reference.

Overall, an enjoyable read with some blunders.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun Flags 101, but it does leave one wanting more depth – the book moves so fast there's hardly time to absorb any of the information.

[Spectre Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and easy to read. Noticed a few mistakes though- such as a label mixup for the flags of Hong Kong and Macau.