The icons series is now a popular format for art book publishers, either as reference for professionals or as this Peachpit title aimed at students. I thought Clifford's book a useful introduction to the history of printed graphics. The choice of who to include (and leave out) is the author's but I doubt that most professionals would disagree with his selection.
Europeans get a worthwhile showing as the originators of good graphics taking in the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau Art Deco and the Bauhaus. These influences shifted across the Atlantic to inspire the American icons in the book. Several short illustrated essays divide the book into sections (and the last one, on the digital era, makes an interesting point about design created on the pc: 'There was a refreshing jolt of youthful experimentation as people moved past the limits of the rational and functional'. To my mind a good explanation of why the pc is responsible for a lot of bad design).
The book's accessible design has each designer starting on a spread with an essay followed examples of work over one or two additional spreads. The author has, in most cases, provided a book title or mixed media available about the person and there is also a useful bibliography of general design books in the back pages.
Overall I thought this was a good introduction to fifty great graphic designers who shaped decades of creativity.
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