SOUTH ASIA-RELATED COVERS OF U.S. MAGAZINES, 1921-2011 (in reverse order)
You can control each image by clicking on the forward, pause and back buttons. If you can't see the covers below (or want to see the slideshow in full size), click here.
If you can't see the covers above (or want to see the slideshow in full size), click here.
Post your comments below or e-mail us at saja[at]columbia.edu - help us make this list better!
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The cover on the right, "India: Liberty & Death" is what ran on the cover of Time on Oct. 27, 1947. And it's a part of a major SAJA research project that you can participate in. Starting in Oct. 2006, we have been building right here the largest database of major U.S. magazines featuring South Asia and South Asians - see the slideshow above.
Below is a collage/slideshow of the covers we found - 75+ 85+ 100+ 125+ 130+ 140 150 161 as of now. This not a comprehensive list and we need your help to make it better. If you know of a cover image we missed, please let us know in the comments section. Better yet, include the URL or file of the image. Or e-mail us at saja[at]columbia.edu - subject line = "South Asian covers" (attach the cover image if you have it). We will keep adding to this slideshow as you help us find more covers.
A quick analysis and trivia (add your own below).
- The images on the cover seem to fall into these major categories: photos/illustration/cartoons of newsmakers; and photo illustrations/cartoons featuring some typical subcontinental elements, including elephants (lots of elephants!), turbans, snake charmers, sari borders, multi-armed gods/goddesses, etc, etc.
- Since SAJA is most interested in tracking the American press, we are only including the U.S. editions of Time, Newsweek, Businessweek, etc. The Asian editions of these mags regularly feature South Asian themes. We have also included the U.S. edition of The Economist, which is a separate edition created for American audiences.
- Time is the only publication which has full archives of its covers online and easily accessible. It's search function, too, is very good. Once you find a cover you are interested in, you can read the table of contents and read the stories themselves. You can also buy the cover images, ready for framing or already framed.
If you have access to Newsweek and other mags' covers, please help fill in the gaps. - Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was popular with the editors of Time. He made the cover six times, his daughter, Indira Gandhi and the most famous Indian of them all, Mahatma Gandhi (no relation, of course), only three times each (see results for a search of "Gandhi").
- Gandhi's first appearance, in March 1930, is in a drawing so unusual that you may not recognize him.
- In the run-up to Partition, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and Sardar Patel, a major Congress leader of India, both made the cover once each.
- Nehru's repeated appearances show you how the world has changed. I can't easily imagine a near-term scenario when a leader from anywhere in South Asia makes multiple appearances on the covers of the U.S. editions of Time or Newsweek. I would love to be proven wrong, of course.
- While three other British Viceroys made the cover of Time (Irwin, Linlithgow, Wavell), Lord Louis Mountbatten never made the cover as Viceroy (he did make the cover, in June 1942, for his leadership during World Word II).
- The nuclear test of May 1998 by India and Pakistan did not get full cover treatment in the U.S. As you can see from this Time cover, Frank Sinatra's death moved the test to a secondary story and a cover mention; same thing for that week's Newsweek.
- In the last few years, the covers have focused on India's economy, violence in Pakistan and, increasingly, South Asian celebrities in the U.S.
- We couldn't find Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on a major U.S. magazine cover - though he must have made it at least one - let us know if you know if you find one.
- Naeem Mohaiemen says in the comments: "Bangladesh's independence war in 1971 was mostly covered as the 'India-Pakistan war' in US media, and most of the focus was on last 20 days when India intervened on behalf of Bangladesh."
Please take a look and post your comments, analysis, etc, below.
UPDATED NOV. 2006: Thanks to Tina Biswas, we have added six New Yorker covers, from 1931 to 1997 - and several dozen more covers - bringing us to 120+.
Send us your suggestions - saja[at]columbia.edu or post in the comments below. And don't forget to click on the Time links above so you can read those cover stories, going back to the 1920s.
AN ITEM FOR COVER JUNKIES, LIKE ME:
The Economist cover you see on the right, from June 2006, is part of the annual "covers of the year" winners by the American Society of Magazine Editors (a group SAJA collaborates with regurlarly on other programming). This cover won for "Best Cover Line" and received third place for "Best Cover of the Year" (see the full list of winners and finalists in the various categories). Note the yellow pointer to a special report inside on Pakistan.
