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This is an illustrated study of Belfast, looking at: a modern, bustling city centre; quiet river walks; Victorian public buildings; trendy restaurants and nightspots; and friendly citizens. ... Read more

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Just in time for the 20th anniversary of Spy’s creation comes the definitive anthology, inside story, and scrapbook. Spy: The Funny Years will remind the magazine’s million readers why they loved and depended on Spy and bring to a new generation the jewels of its reporting and writing, photography, illustration, design, and world-class mischief-making. It will demonstrate Spy’s singular niche in American magazine and cultural history. But it is also intended to be enjoyed on its own: one beautiful volume containing Spy’s funniest and most creative work, along with the ultimate insiders’ account of how it all came to be.

All the best is here: Separated at Birth; Naked City; The Fine Print; Logrolling in Our Time; the Blurb-o-Mat; those hysterical (and now ubiquitous) charts; the inside stories on the New York Times and Hollywood by J.J. Hunsecker and Celia Brady; the covers; investigative features; and the hilarious stories on pretty much everyone who was anyone during the late 80s and early 90s. Not to mention the often grisly but always entertaining regular cast of characters from Spy’s pages -- the churlish dwarf billionaires; beaver-faced moguls; bull-whip-wielding uber-agents; knobby-kneed socialites; and, of course, short-fingered vulgarians.

During its heyday, from 1986 through 1993, Spy broke important ground in journalism and design, defining smartness for its generation. It was aonce-in-a-lifetime creation that shaped the zeitgeist and succeeded (for a while) against all odds. Spy: The Funny Years will be the fun, stylish, hilarious holiday gift of the year. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

The Coffee Table Book of Spy
If there was a hip, satirical sensibility that came out of the New York of the 1980s, Spy magazine embodied it. Spy: The Funny Years, tells the story of how Spy was created, who ran it, what it did, and all its ups and downs during its years (far too short) of existence.

Spy lives!
The greatest magazine of my youth is reprised here in book form!Anyone familiar with how wonderful and fascinating Spy magazine was back in the late 1980's should read this one.Spy broke new ground in "funny" and "ballsy" in the pre-internet age of media.Quite funny and well worth the time, though anyone not familiar with Spy probably won't get much out of it.

Highly recommended for former Spy readers!

Great book
I loved Spy.I remember one issue that had autopsy reports on Jim Croce and someone else, in tiny print, in the margins.This was an outstanding magazine, too far ahead of its time to succeed.Hell, it wouldn't succeed now; way too much narcissism today for anyone to find humor in it.This book is a great tribute to a great magazine.

Did anyone ever win the prize for the errors on the cover?

Nice walk down memory lane
It was really great when one day my wife & I were at the Jersey shore on a rainy summer afternoon and lo & behold what did appear before my very eyes??? SPY: The funny years! I had to flip through this book and see if any of my contributions (although minor) did appear here (I was an intern in the design dept. during the heyday of SPY) WOW! did that book bring back some really great memories for me. I was even impressed by the fact that every person who ever worked there was listed in the book! I was able to use this to have a little fun with my wife, I called her over and said to her "hey babe, look they published my name in this book!" my wife not realizing I was serious replied "oh wow! Theres a guy with the exact same name as yours!" I laughed and explained that it was really me and told her all about my long internship at SPY. I really miss my friends from SPY and was really saddened to hear about B.W. Honeycutt whom I worked for and held a great respect & admiration (he passed in 1994) but I think I will have to look up a few of my old aquaintances and see "where are they now?"

Run Away!
I thoroughly enjoyed this magazine when it was published. I assumed I would enjoy this book! No. I expected a recap of witty stories, fun articles, and the mirth and humor I used to enjoy.
This book is primarily behind the scenes information. I really was not interested in the goings on of people I did not know, and do not care to meet. I suppose if you were a fanatic 'Spy' fan this book might be for you.
On the plus side, it looks nice in it's hardbound cover. ... Read more

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William Randolph Hearst was a man of mythical proportions and staggering contradictions. And he was a fascinating character, so much so that he appears in various fictional works, from John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon" to Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane," as if his life was not sufficiently bizarre in its own right. At its peak, Hearst's media empire included 28 leading newspapers from the San Francisco Examiner to the New York Journal, 18 magazines including Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar, and eight radio stations, an enterprise worth more than $220 million and reaching more than 30 million people -- just a tad less than 25 percent of the American population! No wonder Hearst managed to get people such as Winston Churchill, even Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler, to pen articles for his papers. He lived a life of royalty from his 165-room La Cuesta Encantada in San Simeon on the Pacific Coast to St. Donat's castle in the Welsh countryside--guest George Bernard Shaw quipped, ""This is what God would have built if he had had the money." Author Daniel Alef brings to life the remarkable story of a man who was at once a prodigy, a titan, a novelty and a contradiction. [3,233-word Titans of Fortune biographical profile] ... Read more