National Geographic 1989 December

National Geographic – December 1989
Publisher: National Geographic | ISBN: none (magazines didn’t do ISBNs, they did yellow borders) | Condition: Good (seasoned, but no collapse of empires in its binding)
Unwrapped for you by Crappy Old Books

December 1989: the Cold War was melting faster than a snowman in Havana, revolutions were breaking out across Eastern Europe, and National Geographic celebrated by doing what it does best — sending correspondents to places you’ll never visit and making the world look both majestic and slightly better organised than reality. This issue came wrapped in year-end gravitas, offering armchair travellers the perfect escape from their tinsel-clogged living rooms.

Our copy is rated Good. Which means it’s survived thirty-odd Christmases without losing its spine — more than can be said for most of us. Pages are glossy, photos are still vibrant, and there’s only the faintest whiff of having been left too close to a fireplace in the mid-90s. No missing maps, no revolutionary graffiti, no eggnog stains. Just pure 1989 in print form.

Inside, you’ll find the era’s signature mix:

• Global upheaval photographed in warm Kodachrome tones.

• Exotic wildlife posed more gracefully than most of your relatives at Christmas.

• Anthropological essays written with the reverence usually reserved for holy relics.

• Fold-out maps that made you believe you could circumnavigate the world in a Volvo estate.

Why you might want this magazine:

• Because 1989 wasn’t just about Madonna and acid-wash jeans.

• Because it’s fun to relive a time when optimism was printed in glossy full colour.

• Because a stack of vintage National Geographics turns any home office into a respectable “study.”

• Because, let’s face it, the internet still hasn’t matched the thrill of a good fold-out map.

So here it is: National Geographic, December 1989 — still Good, still glossy, still radiating the energy of a world in flux. Curated and cynically celebrated by Crappy Old Books, where even the fall of empires comes second-hand.

Keep browsing: See more National Geographic books Other books by National Geographic