Pop Life

POP LIFE treats the often-discarded bottle cap with the reverence of art historical paintings and sculptures, inviting readers to appreciate the beauty and context embedded in these tiny works of Americana art. This unique book unveils the intricate graphic design, historical significance, and thought-provoking stories behind the bottle caps of long-gone American beverage companies, offering an unprecedented look at a piece of metal that holds so much history and yet is rarely explored in such vivid detail. The caps of renowned collectors including Todd Selbert and Ron Small in Connecticut, Barry Oremland in Massachusetts, and Phil Pfeiffer in Nebraska are featured within the pages.

The first side of the double-sided book—POP—moves through a delightful and surprising array of Americana themes: old school Disney characters, sports clubs, olde tavern mischief, devils, angels, and the Harvey Ball smiley face. It serves as a historical document of these tiny works of art. Flip the book over and now you have LIFE, where cheeky, hopeful, raunchy, and politically punning stories and jokes abound, as Griffith uses the bottle cap brand names themselves to create sophisticated yet Dad Joke-y wordplay puns The interactive production of POP LIFE generates “a laugh-out-loud / did you get that?” game activity the whole family can enjoy.

Through these visual narratives, readers experience the interplay of American optimism and charm within an era when thousands of independent bottlers across the U.S. vied for consumer attention with their own distinct designs and branding. To round out the book, collector Todd Selbert contributes a text that speaks to the bottle-cap collector lifestyle.