Look: How a Highly Influential Magazine Helped Define Mid-Twentieth-Century America

by Andrew L. Yarrow

Andrew L. Yarrow tells the story of Look magazine, one of the greatest mass-circulation publications in American history, and the very different United States in which it existed. The all-but-forgotten magazine had an extraordinary influence on mid-twentieth-century America, not only by telling powerful, thoughtful stories and printing outstanding photographs but also by helping to create a national conversation around a common set of ideas and ideals. Yarrow describes how the magazine covered the United States and the world, telling stories of people and trends, injustices and triumphs, and included essays by prominent Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Margaret Mead. It did not shy away from exposing the country’s problems, but it always believed that those problems could be solved.

Look , which was published from 1937 to 1971 and had about 35 million readers at its peak, was an astute observer with a distinctive take on one of the greatest eras in U.S. history—from winning World War II and building immense, increasingly inclusive prosperity to celebrating grand achievements and advancing the rights of Black and female citizens. Because the magazine shaped Americans’ beliefs while guiding the country through a period of profound social and cultural change, this is also a story about how a long-gone form of journalism helped make America better and assured readers it could be better still.
 

384 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2021

Reviews

[Biblio Files (takingadayoff) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I stop at a flea market or antique mall, I soon find myself losing track of time in the old magazines, looking at vintage ads, seeing what people were concerned about, what they were wearing, how the magazines were designed, and so on. I faintly remember the last years of Look Magazine, and its rival, Life Magazine. They were among the "general interest" magazines of mid-century America, containing news, entertainment, humor, and lots of colorful photographs.

Journalist Andrew Yarrow has done a biography of the magazine, telling how it came about in 1937 and lasted until 1971, the whole time under the same founder and publisher, Mike Cowles. Yarrow describes the types of articles and features the magazine contained, and there are many photographs of covers and photographs. I read the book on my laptop, and I recommend to anyone who is thinking of reading the book to get the hardcover, because I am sure that the photo spreads will be much more rewarding in that format rather than digitally.

In addition to the business side of the magazine and its content, Yarrow scatters some fun gossip throughout, including the story of how Cowles's wife alienated everyone at the magazine, started her own magazine, at great expense, and watched it flame out after only thirteen issues.

Yarrow ends the book by observing that Look Magazine was a part of an America that was less divided than it is today, a country that had differences but at least agreed on some basics. I found this rather wistful, because it seemed to hinge on the curators of these basics all being of the same group, that is, white men with college degrees: Cowles, all the presidents, most of the Congress, the men reading and editing the TV news, the newspapers, radio, and magazines. If we all seemed to agree on what was important, it was because people outside that group were not calling the shots and silently (and later not so silently) watching from the sidelines.

Regardless of Yarrow's hope for a national conversation that is evidently never going to happen, Look: How a Highly Influential Magazine Helped Define Mid-Twentieth-Century America is a fun, fascinating, and colorful look at a moment in American history that paradoxically, used to be, and never was.

Thanks to NetGalley and Potomac Books for a digital review copy.

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy mid-century topics and journalism history and current events so this was a good match for me. “This story goes far beyond a nostalgic, rose-colored recounting of an America that enjoyed broadly shared economic growth…Look did something unthinkable in contemporary America…[consider] the pivotal role that mass media like Look played in forging unity of purpose, common dialogue, and hope in the United States.” Maybe. Look magazine was similar to better-known Life magazine and the author takes great pains to distinguish the two by arguing Look was more courageous. Both had large formats, photographic essays, and tried to capture the nation’s postwar mood. From the 1940s to 1970s, millions waited for Look to arrive in the mail every other week with sharp essays and features such as ‘New Miracles Ahead’ (synthetic clothes, x-rays, supersonic jets), ‘It’s A Difficult Thing to Teach a President’ (Martin Luther King writing on LBJ), and ‘How American Teenagers Live’ (why they go wild, go steady, and go wrong).

The magazine was edgy for its time but still seemed to me to be an upper middle-class view of only a portion of American society. In this recounting, the magazine comes across more celebratory than incisive. The strongest parts were written by guest essayists such as Vanevar Bush predicting the internet in 1945 or Oriana Fallaci covering Vietnam in the 1960s. Although the magazine history was interesting, the most thought-provoking aspect of the book for me was looking back over the mid-century current events themselves from a contemporaneous perspective. The author devotes detailed chapters to civil rights, women’s rights, wars, and other pivotal trends. Look is a good lens through which to re-think these events as they were actually happening.