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sloatsj's review
4.0
This was our coffee table book when I was a kid. I always enjoyed looking at it, although when I look through it now I notice many of the photos are not very sharp - maybe it's just the edition I have (or my eyes going with age).
It makes a nice gift for people who enjoy but aren't really into photography.
It makes a nice gift for people who enjoy but aren't really into photography.
annebennett1957's review
4.0
We had very few books around the house when I was growing up but we had this book. First published in 1955 it is full of black and white photographs chronicling the lives of people all over the world. I must have looked through this book 'a million times' as a kid and was pleased to see it on the coffee table at my mother's house when we visited her this weekend. What a gem.
ellekaie's review
Truly an ambitious exhibition for photography when it was staged at MoMa in the 1950s. That's undeniable. But this isn't really The Family of Man if the photographs and photographers are predominantly white, which sadly to say, isn't a surprising curatorial direction during that time. Can't say that it was a noble attempt to create an image story of man if there's hardly any diversity. Philippines wasn't even included here.
lukescalone's review
4.0
THIS is the liberal universalism that I love so dearly. There are many reasonable criticisms that can be made of this work-- it's American-centric, it focuses only on general experiences and not deeply individual ones, etc., but I think there's a really important message here. It's really a message that needs preserving in an age of divisive identity politics and integral nationalism.
jensteerswell's review
5.0
Alas, it was impossible to go to the exhibit in Clervaux, Luxembourg when I visited there last week due to the scarcity of public transportation on Sundays. So this was a poor substitute.
jtth's review
Incredible, beautiful imagery. I just wish I had a larger edition, or could see the exhibition itself. Some of the photos are quite small, and the print quality is not great. (It's good for a mass book but it's real bad for a photography book, but fine given the price.)
ruth_in_calif's review
5.0
If I could give this book 100 stars, I would!! I have given this book several times as gifts to people I love (the first time I gave it as a gift was in 1963 to my favorite history teacher in high school, and I watched while he read it during a study class we had. And I saw the amazed smiles on his face as he went through it! It is a very, very fond memory). It is truly an absolutely amazing book taken in its totality. Not easy to describe, but SO worth reading and owning and re-reading!
stevenk's review
4.0
Ok, not so much reading in this book, but the photographs are beautiful and the quotes thought provoking and well matched to the photo's.
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