I once spent an evening counting and classifying the ads in every National Geographic printed in the fifties, noticing things like the first National Geographic in 1950 had maybe a dozen ads for trains, and just a few for airlines. By the last issue of 1959, there were many ads for airlines, but hardly any for trains. At the time, I thought the topic worthy of a college term paper. This set of books is good for a doctorate. Much of the social history of America's last century is written in the advertising in these books.

Note: If you plan on buying the full set at your local book store, better take a hand truck, because you're going to need it.

	All American Ads from 1900 to 1919 Jim Heimann - 640 pages soon A far cry from the aggressive ads we've become used to, American print advertisements from the first two decades of the 20th century were almost shockingly pleasant. Intricately designed and beautifully illustrated, often in the art nouveau style popular at the time, four-color, full-page magazine advertisements were welcome respites from the bland, text-filled pages among which they appeared.
	All American Ads of the 20s Jim Heimann - 512 pages Taschen's legendary decade-by-decade chronicle of American advertising hits a high point in the book on the 1920s. Its hundreds of coruscatingly colorful Jazz Age advertisements, superbly reproduced on practically bulletproof paper, add up to an irresistible question: why stay this side of paradise when the new consumer culture can send you to heaven right now?
	All American Ads of the 30s Jim Heimann - 768 pages In contrast to the depression the ads of the thirties present an optomistic view of life, and not surprisingly the hard sell emerges. The quality of the artwork substantially improves over previous decades, and so does the verbose copy. People had time to read then, and it shows in the ads.
	All American Ads of the 40s Jim Heimann - 764 pages Like a pop-cultural walk through time, All-American Ads of the 40s covers the breadth of print ads from the World War II era. As one might expect, the ads look very different from ads today. Most are illustrated, and even the selling of innocuous products like candy bars taps into public interest number one, the war.
	All American Ads of the 50s Jim Heimann - 928 pages All-American Ads of the 50s offers page after page of products that made up the happy-days decade. The start of the cold war spurred a buying frenzy and a craze for new technology that required ad campaigns to match. The nuclear age left its mark all over the advertisements, with a spotlight on planes, rockets, and even mushroom clouds.
	All American Ads of the 60s Jim Heimann - 960 pages With the consumerist euphoria of the fifties still going strong and the race to the moon at its height, the mood of advertising in the sixties was cheerful, optimistic, and at times, revolutionary. The decade's ads touted perceived progress (such as tang and instant omelets-"just add water") while striving to reinforce good old American values.
	All American Ads of the 70s Jim Heimann - 701 pages Both eclipsed and influenced by television, American print ads of the 1970s departed from the bold, graphic forms and subtle messages that were typical of their sixties counterparts. More literal, more in-your-face, 70s ads sought to capture the attention of a public accustomed to blaring, to-the-point TV commercials (even VW ads, known for their witty, ironic statements and minimalist designs, lost some of their punch in the 1970s).
	All American Ads of the 80s Jim Heimann - 640 pages As editor Jim Heimann says in his short introduction, print creativity wasn't exactly sparkling in the Eighties. Television took most of the ad budget leaving print to soak up what was left with ads that reinforced what had been seen on the small screen. Still, some ads did capture the consumer's imagination, do you remember 'The united colors of Benetton', 'Just do it' for Nike, Maxell cassettes, Swatch and Absolut vodka campaigns?