Find me this 80s leftist coloring book?

August 8, 2021 6:40 PM

In the 1980s I volunteered in a liberation theology Catholic bookstore and lunch spot. I bought my mom a coloring book there one day. As far as I recall, it was a very large thin book. The pages were intricate line drawings of our world sort of as it was then and would be if nothing got better -- urban decay, environmental degradation, sadness -- alongside streets of hippie, leftist utopia -- lots of coops and bike shops and people helping people. It might? have been called something like Earth Trek? Does this ring any bells for anyone? Googling has not been fruitful....
posted by shadygrove to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

I remember a single large page comic along these lines. If I recall correctly it was on the back cover of one of the "Whole Earth" catalogs. It might have been the early 90s "Ecolog". Five minutes of Googling hasn't turned up the image for me, yet. But the very large thin book, plus the cartoon-- showing the wilderness, then the town, then the city, then decay-- it was contrasted on the other side by a possible future showing bicycle taxis and urban farms and hippie communes. This suggested that the "decay" future was not inevitable-- we just had to use the tools inside the Whole Earth catalog to make it better.
posted by seasparrow at 8:10 PM on August 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

maybe something to hold you over until it turns up: https://www.rlmartstudio.com/product-category/coloring-pages/
posted by adekllny at 7:37 AM on August 9, 2021

Best answer: It's this book, Peace Trek Family Coloring Book by Joel Schatz, which apparently will run me a cool 900 dollars and change on Amazon. I can find some very dubious looking pdf sites but I think I would be thoroughly scammed if I tried to download anything from them.

If anybody has any brilliant ideas about how to get a copy for, you know, substantially less than the cost of a new bathtub, let me know. ;)
posted by shadygrove at 7:31 PM on August 9, 2021 [2 favorites]

If anybody has any brilliant ideas about how to get a copy for, you know, substantially less than the cost of a new bathtub, let me know. ;)

I've gotten several vintage books I've wanted by putting a subscribed search on eBay and waiting for a price I could afford. In my case, the books have been more like $150 and I've waited for them to get in the $35 range. It has taken a year or more sometimes, but it can work. Good luck.
posted by FencingGal at 4:22 AM on August 10, 2021 [2 favorites]