Mod: A Very British Phenomenon is a comprehensive and authentic source on the mod subculture. Until I recently decided to purchase a book on the topic, I had no idea how hard it was to find quality sources on mod culture. As someone interested in the style and cultural details, I was looking for a book with exhaustive descriptions and photographs. Resources on mod largely seem either low-budget, vague anectdotes or cheesy, sterotypical fluff on the 60s. After checking out the reviews and description of this book, I was excited to finally find what seemed to be the ideal coverage of mod.
When I received the book in the mail and cracked it open, I was instantly a bit disappointed. Its very worthwhile on one hand because its full of old newspaper clippings, quotes from interviews with original mod pioneers, historical events, clothing and style descriptions, hairstyle descriptions, and other cultural detail it gives readers-- no matter how well-versed in mod-- an informative and entertaining read. It is indeed a great source relative to the shabby body of work that exists on mod. Unfortunetly, there is an obvious drawback. I hoped the book would be in glossy coffetable format, filled with crisp images but the book instead has rather poor printing quality, distorted photographs and is lacking in format. The resolution is poor and the style choices of both the text and photos in the format are cheap and sometimes cheesy, pseudo-mod. So, I was a bit disappointed-- While great for information, the book is not one that I enjoy picking up and getting lost in the visuals--- instead, its more of an informative read for me.