Documentary-Collection

Lili Corbus Bezner has written what she believes to be a balanced and complex account of the intersection of politics and photography in the early years of the cold war. The book is extensively researched. But the world view that underlies her account is a narrow one that will be very familiar to readers of contemporary photography and cultural criticism. In this view, the late 1940s and the 1950s in America was one of the most illiberal and dark chapters in our history because of the repressiveness of McCarthyism. Thus the hero of her book is Sid Grossman, a key figure in New York's Photo League, whose career as a photographer and teacher was ruined when his association with the Communist Party was revealed. Bezner assumes readers will share her assessment that his radical, class-based politics was both a more realistic and courageous stand against McCarthyism than the liberal humanism of Edward Steichen, whose extremely popular exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, "The Family of Man", she frequently and condescendingly describes as "naive" and "safe". Thus, in a spooky mirroring of cold war thinking, the wrongs committed against Grossman give him a greater purchase on the political truth.

In fact, this period in the U.S. was the beginning of the greatest class leveling (based on relative income) in the history of the world. It consolidated the rising power of industrial unions and birthed the civil rights movement (the Brown decision was in 1954). A third party candidate, Henry Wallace, ran from the left in 1948; the victorious candidate, Truman, proposed a sweeping national health care plan, among other liberal initiatives. A strain of liberalism that emphasized consumerism (i.e., a higher standard of living for more people) was broadly successful, as represented by the GI bill and VA loan program. Our universities started to open up to a broader range of students and New York eclipsed Paris as the art capital of the world. All these events were contested, but suggest a very different tone than Bezner's "balanced" account.

From a longer view, McCarthyism, while terrible, was not the only event and certainly not the most enduring of the period, despite its chilling effect on freedom of expression. In the end, McCarthy was censured and disgraced. However, his repression of the left-leaning artists and intellectuals, who tend to write most cultural criticism, was disproportionately heavy.

Steichen and his assistant, Wayne Miller, had witnessed the horrors of WWII first hand as part of a naval photography unit--their liberal humanism was hard won and hardly naive. Their hopes for greater human solidarity and their optimism about the human spirit was (and is) the more fundamental challenge to both the right wing repression of McCarthism and totalitarianism on the left. If American radicals were the greater political realists, as Bezner's thesis and dozens like it imply, then they should answer for their support of, or negligence in the face of, communist regimes in Russia and China that murdered tens of millions of people. The alternative is for Bezner to admit that it was photographers like Grossman, not Steichen, who looked through rose-colored lenses.

Commenting on Lili Corbus Bezner's Photography and Politics in America, distinguished photohistorian James L. Enyeart wrote: "This is one of the most sound expansions of photographic history that I have seen. Bezner has set a new standard for books on the history of photography, especially in the scholarly evidence which her new research and extensive documentation provide." Enyeart, director of the Marion Center for Photographic Arts at the College of Santa Fe, points to the significance of this book as a history. This is a history, but it is more than scholarship. Bezner's book is a fair, balanced, passionate, and lively history of American photography during the 20th century that is sure to satisfy both the true scholar and the general reader. No book has covered this ground. Here are photographers such as Rosalie Gwathmey, Sid Grossman, and George Gilbert, who receive for the first time the close look they deserve. Here is the Photo League, a model for artistic education, blacklisted and censored in the 50s as a result of malice. Bezner's case study of the Photo League will alert any believer in free speech and an open Democracy to just how far extremists will go to take away our freedom. Here is FDR's New Deal, which unified our nation and gave hope to all Americans, regardless of background, a unity that provided the foundation from which we were able to defeat Hitler and Japan. Here is Edward Steichen's the Family of Man, dismissed by some as a show out of the past because photographers displayed works that documented the world around them. Bezner's fresh look at the Family of Man demonstrates that although flawed this major exhibition provided photographers the opportunity to express hope and humanism along with attention to craft and aesthetics. And here is a new look at Robert Frank, whose work, Bezner argues, was elevated at the expense of others just as talented and innovative because of the political climate of the times. Bezner writes passionately and persuasively of how artists retreated into themselves because of the politics of this period. Photography and Politics in America will open your eyes to not only great photography but an exceptional new voice in photographic history. Enyeart is right. Bezner has raised the bar for all who follow her.

The book is full of pictures you and I would throw away...constructions sites,alleys,reflections in windows.If you're looking for Lindas pastoral scenes,this book is not it. It's full of city scenes,showing dirty streets,homeless etc. If you're looking for Paul or family photos,they aren't in here either. Linda has based on photographic career on 2 things:the family and nature and this book has neither.I wouldn't recommend on a photographic level. Only Beatle freaks will enjoy it,just to say they own a copy of it. My copy holds my table straight.

Linda McCartney, once again, picks us up and drops us right on the scene of her photographs. She never fails to surprise with her keen eye and amazing talent. A delight!

Having been to Venice and the surrounding area, I was excited about getting a book that would contain high quality photos of what I saw, however, the selection of photographs in this book was pretty disappointing. I'm shocked that it doesn't contain a single picture of St. Mark's Basilica, one of the most famous pieces of architecture in the world. Also, I would have appreciated more mountain scenes and fewer pictures of blooming trees, masks, windows, and statues of animals. Overall, it's an interesting and pretty book but with too many pictures of boring things.

Venice and the Veneto has some very charming pictures of both Venice and the islands and inland surrounding it. The pictures are beautifully taken at various times in the day at different angles. I would recommend this as a coffee table book to whom ever has a love for Venice. I did think though that it would have been even a more delight for me if it had more works on the not so familiar aspects of Venice- such as the trailing tresses of plants or the gardens hidden in stone walls.

From the warmed-over Velvet Underground reference in the title (and what the hell is she trying to say by using the word "inferred?") begins the parade of cliches in this book of mediocre faux-documentary photography.

To wit; Yale graduate student photographs other self-absorbed New York types pretending to make love. Heavy emphasis on recycled Nan Goldin archetypes. Other photographers do this better, but now that Goldin's off the wagon I guess everyone's trying out for her spot in the limelight.

Check out Letinksy's site at the University of Chicago for a laundry list of over-chewed postmodernist discussion about romance and photography. Heavy use of the term "informed by" should tip you off that this is just the waking embodient of an academic's wet dream.

This is art photography at its' best--like Winogrand, Tina Barney, or Sturges, but emotionally much more raw. Letinsky's images turn conventional stereotypes upside down in this most provacative work.

in the beginning, there was no one to hold the story line. however; after the preamble, the verse continued to embellish and florish. the main character became totally embroiled in the battle of the minds. i was truly enthralled and mesmerized............i later fainted, and upon becoming revived; resumed my jouney anew.........

as i sat thinking to myself, i realized the prozac had worn off and i was again most stoned.

If you answered, "Vladamir Nabokov, of course! he loves butterflies!" this book would love to come home to you. Put simply, it's a collection of fascinating black-and-white photos of many important, but not-so-well-known writers (just a few: Beckett, Neruda, Solschenizyn and Cocteau) accented by corner captions written in three languages. It's definately worth looking through if you know who the writers are (even if you only know half), or if you really like portrait photos, and--college students--it would probably make a nice gift for that World Lit professor who deserves a little something special. However, I did take a star off because it's a bit pricey for a small, short paperback with very little written word.

This book is not worth the paper, believe me! I don't know if it's because 'printed in China', but the photos are not comparable with other Ansel Adams books or calendars. Please don't mix it up with the hardcover version which is >100$.

Terrible printing quality of photos that are obscure because they're not that good. Whether the lack of sharpness in these is down to the paper, the printer, or the photographer (yes, even Ansel took crap at times, and people seem determined to publish everything he ever did, however bad!), I don't know, but the lack of sharpness and the awful shadow detail make this book an absolute waste of time. Maybe it will impress a non-photographer (simply so they can boast having a book of Adams's shots) - but a photographer is wasting their money.

Horrible printing of Adams' most obscure photos. Fuzzy images with none of the range of tones normally produced by his incomparable application of the "zone technique." The poor images even make it impossible to appreciate the words of John Muir.

The photographs are great!! I just wish that the author had let them speak for themselves, or if he felt that he must say something, tell us what he felt when looking at the photos. I don't think that there is a person over the age of 8 that doesn't know about the difficult times that African American faced and still face, but to add them as facts to the photographs is just a bit much. God I want just one book that has photographs of us that talk about our pride and strength seen in our eyes by the len.

These photographs are gorgeous. Many of the readers have probably never seen early photos of free and even prosperous proud ante-bellum black people. I would give this book five stars were it not for the commentary. Jackie Napoleon Wilson tries so hard to interpret the photos that he makes ridiculous assumptions. There is no way to know what was going on in these people's heads. As other reviewers have pointed out, becuase of the daugeretype's long exposure time the man in the photo on page 3 didn't just get caught in the scene he must have been posed. When Wilson says the woman and daughter on page 13 didn't have a close attachment he's speaking nonsense. How on earth can you tell that? Despite the commentary this book is a worthy addition to the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in history.

Normally a picture is worth a thousand words, not so in Wilson's case. This book would have been better left without text. Still, as a picture book, as a real hidden witness to a past that does not show much in the way of photo documentation, the book has worth. The daguerreotypes and rare photos give a glimpse to the lives of African-Americans before abolition. If the reader will become a looker only and search the photos for the truth, then this book will be a valuable source of enlightenment and understanding.

The apparent contempt that the author has for his subject, Islam and the Muslim world, makes this an unfortunately one-dimensional book, lacking in both insight and sensitivity. Through his highly subjective choice of photographic material the author has succeeded in heightening every prejudice, reinforcing every misconception, and exacerbating the deepening divide between the Islamic and Western worlds. The subject of Abbas' interviews implies that Muslims the world over are as ignorant as they are belligerent. He certainly confirms his reputation as "one of the few photographers who can raise photojournalism to an art form" but the only cost of sensationalism is honesty. A small price to pay for the artist who would rather 'inspire' than depict the truth in all its banality. He states that "poverty is not natural" and maintains that "young people find refuge in the Koran and in Islamist institutions when racism and chronic unemployment become unbearable." The shallow implication of this statement being that those who can attain relative gains (i.e. people with jobs) will not need the emotional and spiritual crutch provided by religion. But does spiritual hunger always arise from material limitation and need? Caricatures will suffice for the childish mind. Black and white photography dramatises contrast. It is my hope, however, that there will be readers who realise that not everything is black and white.

The Iranian-born photographer Abbas, a staff photographer for Magnum Photos in Paris, travelled in twenty-nine Muslim countries from West Africa to China in an effort to try the pulse and flavor of fundamentalist Islam. Abbas, who makes no bones about the fact that his religion is artistic creativity, finds the whole phenomenon slightly repulsive even as it fascinates him.

The hundreds of black-and-white pictures in "Allah O Akbar" will likewise repulse and fascinate the reader, as will Abbas's fast-moving, intelligent text telling of his experiences as a photographer. Violence and death features prominently in these pictures, from the Qur'anic teacher in the Sudan bearing a whip to a profusion of slaughtered animal parts to the appalling parade of young Iranian men triumphantly carrying the corpse of a prostitute they had burnt to death. Many fascinating pictures concern women: one very modestly covered Algerian art student diligently paints a naked male statue while an Egyptian zoology student covered from head to toe (including black gloves) looks from under her cowl into a microscope. An Afghan bride participates in a marriage ceremony at which the groom is represented only by his picture (he's off in Germany); a belly dancer performs in a social club at a Renault company social club in France; and two women sit together on a Moroccan beach, one veiled and the other in a tanktop swimming suit.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1995

This beautiful coffee--table book of black and white photos is not well-represented by the excerpts available. Yes, the section on Iran has many pictures of frothing-at-the-mouth mobs surging through the streets, brandishing fists and assault rifles. No, the rest of the book is nothing like that. There are some ghastly pictures of war dead in the section on Kuwait, and the inevitable images of uzi-toting worshippers at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, but nothing else like the featured parts. The book is much more sensitive and insightful than that.

Iran-born Magnum photographer Abbas traveled through the Islamic world, searching for manifestations of militant Islam. (It's too bad he didn't collaborate with V. S. Naipaul in his research on the very similar subject of Islam in non--Arabic countries.) What he came up with were images that show the unifying (or uniformity-imposing, if you prefer) power of Islam. Everywhere he goes, he finds the same images: Schoolchildren bobbing and chanting over their Korans, tumbledown cemeteries where the dead are honored on Fridays, funerals, women and girls in hijab going about their daily business, men lolling on carpets in mosques reading the Koran, people stopping in their tracks to perform their prayers, and etc.

There are also many delightful surprises: Schoolgirls in hijab cloaks playing basketball, ballerinas in a muslim former Soviet republic, a long--haired dervish in full flight with drum and tambourine leggings, a emotional Kuwaiti woman talking with an almost as emotional female American soldier after the liberation of Kuwait City, a bearded elder walking past a clutch of Pakistani teens in Britain who radiate "Cool Britannia".

Some of the surprises are not delightful. We see a Christian in Sudan being tried and then flogged in a shariah court for drinking alcohol. A sheep in an English barbershop, cows in Indonesia, and camels in the pilgrimage places in Saudi Arabia are all sacrificed in performance of Islamic rites. Shiite Muslims lashing and lacerating themselves in one of their ceremonies.

But throughout there are many images of pure photographic beauty. Baobab trees are shown in spiky, inky silhouette above a cemetery. Rows of white--cloaked women at prayer in Jakarta stretch beyond the border of the photo. Young Senegalese men pose in front of a tangle of limbs and vines after an initiation ceremony. Really gorgeous stuff, quite beyond the power of this amateur.

The unobtrusive text tells of Abbas' travels among these peoples. He strikes out in the U. S. with the Nation of Islam, who quickly clam up and deny him access. He gets along fine with the Indonesian Muslims, and even has to coax statements of discontent out of them. (This visit was before the eruption of religious rioting in that country). His lack of religion causes him to frequently despair of understanding his subjects--a lack of confidence thankfully not shared by his camera.

What can be said of a person who hangs around a gang of killers for years? Ron Haviv has done just this. Fear and death become trivialized when expensive and stylized books become available for the commercial market.
There are photographs that exist from the past that document murder. These photographs were made by the murderers themselves in order to celebrate their deeds or by the victims in an attempt to warn the world of the horrors that had taken place.
Haviv was neither a victim nor a spy taking photographs on the sly from the distance. Haviv was in the middle of this carnage. He was the court photographer for a twisted band of murderers, winning their confidence over a period of years. He did not attempt to stop the crimes, he photographed them instead. He did not run from this vicious mob but instead he chose to remain with them.
In the book he is referred to as having been brave. I choose to think of him as an opportunist of the highest degree. Shame!!

I have always enjoyed Haviv's beautiful photographs. He has an incredible eye. But the text in this book is very poor. Sudetic comes across as a Yugo-nostalgic fool. Once again the writer uses myths from World War Two as justification for the present day conflict. If we are going to bring up WW2 then lets also bring up Serb duplicity and collaboration with the Nazis. (See the Nedic regime). As well as the whole slaughter of non-Serbs, primarily Muslims and Croats by the Chetnik forces of Serb General Mihajlovic, prior to 1941. The writer does not take into account Communist Tito's massacres at Bleiburg, and the death camps such as Goli Otok and Gradiska. (For comparisons see Pinochet). Yugoslavia was not a utopian dream. It was a vicious state ruled with an iron fist and it was bound to fall apart. It was a regime ruled by one ethnic group, the Serbs, and several non-Serb cronies who were die-hard Communists. War was tragically inevitable. How could it not be, when the Serb leader Milosevic and other Serb intellectuals, wanted to carve out a Greater Serbia. (See Memorandum from the Serb Academy of Arts and Sciences). And almost succeeded. What was unforseen was the West's desperate attempt to keep Yugoslavia whole. This goes back to interest and types like former Sec. of State Lawrence Eagleburger having money/investments in the region.
What gives larger nations the right to 'allow' smaller nations autonomy? Thank God these countries are now independent. We can only hope the illegally annexed provinces of Vojvodina and Kosova can finally break free from Serb repression in the coming years.
Haviv, next time get a better writer who knows more than the usual regurgitated Communist rhetoric. I mean would you write a book on the Ukraine with a Soviet?

It's hard top describe or explain, but the very impact of the horrific photos and the tender essays which accompany them add substantially to the overall beauty of the work. This is definitely something to leave on the coffee table, with the expectation of rousing some stirring (possibly controversial) conversation.

Haviv's displaying a tremendous ability to see through the "fog of war" that has routinely plagued journalists (photojournalists and written word journalists) since the American Civil War. His eye for the poignant photo speaks, as a picture is supposed to, thousands of words; his words paint the pictures far more deeper than what the superficial eye can see.

This is as important a document of the Balkan War, or of war in general, as has ever been put to print. The price of the book should not be considered too daunting - the price of war, however, should be.

Having grown up in Coney Island I found this effort to be extremely substandard. This book takes the most uninteresting pictures of the most uninteresting individuals that I can imagine. Mr. Stein would have done much better to find alot more of the old timers who truly represent the feel and atmosphere of What Coney Island was, not so much the depressing delapidated dangerous neighborhood that it most unfortunately has become. He did not look hard enough to find what is truly representative of the Coney of lore, because had he done so, it's still there, just difficult to unearth. The pictures of the parade just shows how far down Americas greatest playground has gone. Do yourselves a favor and go to the library and pick out any number of other books on Coney Island and then compare. Unfortunately, you might become meloncoly and saddened, for Coney is really just a microcosm of what has become of this nations great cities.

I was EXTREMELY disappointed with this book. The title is VERY misleading. THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT CONEY ISLAND!!! This is a book about carny people and Stein took the sleaziest most unattractive pictures of them. I know Coney Island. I lived there for 15 years and still visit annually. There is history of amusements and cultures that are not captured in this book. Out of 80+ pictures, there are only 3, including the cover wrap, about the attractions of Coney Island. The rest is a picture book of people. If you are looking for a nostalgic journey about Coney Island-SAVE THE RETURN COST & FORGET ABOUT THIS BOOK!!!

I love this book for the way it captures the feeling of the place. While it is not full of text about Coney Island, it is full of visual and emotional information. I am an ex-New Yorker and have a few books I turn to when I feel homesick, this is one of them.