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rhodered's review
5.0
Awesome! (Why is it always harder to describe the books you LOVE as opposed to the other ones?) Ok so, it's a book in three eloquent parts:
1. A full scale reproduction of a feature story on segregation in the South in LIFE Magazine's Sept 24, 1956 issue, plus the cover of that issue (which does not reference the story at all, which in turn becomes a subtle part of the story of course.)
2. The photo plates - gorgeous four color reproductions - made by famed photographer Gordon Parks for possible use in the story. (Again, which photos wound up being used and which did not is also a subtle signal of some kind.)
3. Background essays/introductions by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Maurice Berger, Michael Shapiro and Peter Kunhardt, Jr. , which include details on the photographer as well as the unintended consequences of the LIFE story's publication.
The essays are so well written and fascinating that a visiting friend, who picked up this book to riffle through the photos, wound up transfixed by them...reading every word as I waited for her to resurface.
Then we had an energetic conversation about whether the images were too beautiful for the subject, whether Parks should have warned a well dressed woman that her bra strap was showing, how his background informed the compositions, etc.
This is really a great book. The only fail for me was I was hoping the plates would include more images from Parks' Atlanta Airport series (one of which is featured on the cover). There weren't any, but really that's a small quibble. So five stars baby!
1. A full scale reproduction of a feature story on segregation in the South in LIFE Magazine's Sept 24, 1956 issue, plus the cover of that issue (which does not reference the story at all, which in turn becomes a subtle part of the story of course.)
2. The photo plates - gorgeous four color reproductions - made by famed photographer Gordon Parks for possible use in the story. (Again, which photos wound up being used and which did not is also a subtle signal of some kind.)
3. Background essays/introductions by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Maurice Berger, Michael Shapiro and Peter Kunhardt, Jr. , which include details on the photographer as well as the unintended consequences of the LIFE story's publication.
The essays are so well written and fascinating that a visiting friend, who picked up this book to riffle through the photos, wound up transfixed by them...reading every word as I waited for her to resurface.
Then we had an energetic conversation about whether the images were too beautiful for the subject, whether Parks should have warned a well dressed woman that her bra strap was showing, how his background informed the compositions, etc.
This is really a great book. The only fail for me was I was hoping the plates would include more images from Parks' Atlanta Airport series (one of which is featured on the cover). There weren't any, but really that's a small quibble. So five stars baby!
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