American image: Photographing one hundred fifty years in the life of a nation - Hardcover

Sandler, Martin W

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809243814 ISBN 13: 9780809243815

Publisher: Contemporary Books, 1989

Synopsis

Hundreds of black-&-white photographs and anecdotes chronicle the development of the nation and reveal the essence of the American experience from the Civil War to Ellis Island to the glory of space exploration.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Among the many salutes to photography's sesquicentennial published this year, here are two more. Images of America lacks a clear purpose or audience and is further marred by confusing organization and design. It purports to "honor the private legacy" of American images from family albums and personal treasures, yet famous photographs from public collections are included. Introductory and text prose (by "14 distinguished writers, historians and curators") is bombastic and sentimental, e.g., "Smithsonian experts and their colleagues throughout the country are the masters who create the mirror in which the nation can see and know its heart and soul." Expository picture captions omit photographers' names and locations of originals (listed inconveniently in the end matter) and are usually without dates, sizes, or other useful historical information. Not recommended. Sandler's American Image is a better book. A rambling social, political, and military history rather than a history of the medium, its text, presented in too many typefaces and highlighted clusters, is far less engaging than the fresh and well-produced photographs. Some of these lively images and their makers are famous, but many are previously unpublished and by anonymous photographers. Upstaging the text, they show the ordinary hometown spirit of America amidst extraordinary national progress. A balance in the selection prevents the sentimentality typical of other such compilations: the pleasures of leisure are juxtaposed with the struggle for income, the charm of family life with the bitterness of poverty and war. Of greatest interest to general readers, but specialists will find research potential in individual images and the collections from which they were taken.
- Kathleen Collins, Great Barrington, Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Contemporary Books
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0809243814
• ISBN 13: 9780809243815
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 266