A Good War is Hard to Find

This is the second in a series of books that I design and produce, and then promote. A Good War is Hard to Find takes aim at America's quiet response to photos documenting the abuse and torture of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. Although the subject matter is political, polarizing and massive in scale, I saw it as simply one man's opinion. So I wanted the book to look like those Book of Truths pamphlets that religious people pass out on city street corners—poor production, bad printing, basic typography and graphics. To achieve this aesthetic, I went straight to the source—a nice old man with a one-color Heidelberg who actually prints these types of pamphlets. I gave him black-and-white outputs of my spreads and cover, and he delivered a clunky, crooked, “perfect” little book. A wrinkled American flag wrapper and letterpressed envelope complete the deal. After sending 150 to clients and potential clients, I sold the rest at an independent bookstore and on my website. The best part of this project, aside from getting David Griffith's words to the people, was that it led to a deal with Soft Skull Press (in Brooklyn) to turn this into a bigger, “realer” book. It's due out in spring 2006.