Could there be a more perfect encapsulation of the decline of American magazines than this gallery of all 857 Esquire covers since 1933? First look at 1966, a year when the brilliant graphic designer George Lois was churning out one iconic cover after another. Then go to 2004. Or almost any year since about 1981. It’s sad. Predictable, but sad.
The 1996 book Covering the 60’s: George Lois, the Esquire Era collects the best Esquire covers from that classic era, along with commentary by Lois himself.
In 2001 I wrote a column skewering Esquire and its editor, David Granger, for publishing a silly stunt article by Tom Junod.
