A Cover Story

A while back my editor at Knopf, Jon Segal, showed me a proposed cover for Crude World. I really liked some elements of the design but other things didn’t work for me. So what to do? Knopf would not use a cover I didn’t approve of, but Jon reminded me that Knopf had a bit more experience with book designs than I did. Should I trust my instincts or Knopf’s? The decision was easy; I signed off on the cover. A few days ago I got an advance copy of the book, which arrives in stores in a few weeks. Wow. The thing is beautiful. Ignore the digital reproduction on this site—it does no justice. Go to a store and look at it. You don’t have to buy it. Just look at it. I’ve shown my copy to a few friends and the first thing they say is, Amazing cover. The designer is Peter Mendelsund.