I have thoroughly enjoyed Leslie Sill's previous books on artists, and now her latest book on photographers. They are wonderful outlines of artist's lives, their work, and how their past experiences have influenced the direction of their art. As an art teacher, I try to incorporate different ways of introducing my students to a wide range of work. Because these stories are so well-written and inspiring, I have designed large portions of my curriculum around Sill's past books and look forward to using this book as well. The stories are thorough, yet written in a way that the average person, who may not necessarily feel that they have a valid knowledge on art, could walk away from it with a new understanding and interest. And just the opposite, for someone who is innvolved in art, this book is beautifully put together and would be a valued part of any art book collection.

When I first read this book, I was moved by these women's lives. I was amazed at how they persevered at their art through all the hardships of life. I find Leslie Sills an amazing writer. This is not the first book I have read by her. I also have the one about painters, and by reading both books I felt that I learned alot. Leslie Sills is an amazing artist herself, and her own life should be the subject of a book someday. I would recommend this book to anybody, but particularly to people interested in photography or art.

Knowing that women artists in all fields tend to suffer from a lack of public exposure, I took a look at this volume hoping to find some good work that I had not seen before. My hopes were rewarded when all six photographers proved to be talented, interesting, and stylistically different from each other . . . and four of them were new to me. With the two artists I knew before, the biographical essays added to my knowledge, making every aspect of the book a pleasant surprise.

The book is organized around the concept that "cameras do copy which is front of the lens . . . [but these images are also] creations of the artist's intention and unconscious mind."

The essays are especially rewarding for their balance in explaining the artists' family lives, their relationships with the men in their lives, how they started into photography, their technique, and descriptions of their aesthetic values. Leslie Sills is pleasantly succinct:

Imogen Cunningham: "liked to examine life closely" and focused on "shapes, textures, patterns" in nature. She also captured the "essence" of people.

Dorothea Lange: The camera was an "activist tool" which "revealed the sufering of thousands and motivated others to help" during the Depression.

Lola Alvarez Bravo: Captured the real "Mexico after the Mexican Revolution" occurred there.

Carrie Mae Weems: Showed the "complexities of being human" especially in "squelching stereotypes" and "honoring African-American culture."

Elsa Dorfman: "Celebrates humanity" with her oversized camera that captures people to look more naturally like themselves than photographs normally do.

Cindy Sherman: Sees the camera as an "instrument to copy her constructed scenes" which are "puzzles that challenge her audience."

It has not been easy to be a woman photographer and these women succeeded because they persevered, as well as because they were so talented. Their stories are as inspiring as any I have read, and also tell an interesting tale of how your work can help you express your inner self.

Here are my favorite images from the book:

Imogen Cunningham:

Magnolia Blossom, 1925

My Father at 90, 1936

Morris Graves, Painter, 1950

Dorothea Lange:

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936 (Series of 3)

There is a wonderful description of how this series was shot on a day when Ms. Lange was exhausted and had driven past the migrant labor camp in the rain before deciding intuitively to turn back and try her luck.

Lola Alvarez Bravo:

Por culpas ajenas, c. 1945

Elsueno de los pobres 2, 1943

The Two Fridas, c. 1944

Carrie Mae Weems:

Mom at Work, 1978-1984

Untitled (Letter Holder), 1988-89

Her work also included long interviews with her family.

Elsa Dorfman:

Robbie and the Dinosaur Femur, 1970

Terri Terralouge and Aileen Graham, 1989

Cindy Sherman:

Untitled #224, 1990

Given that these styles are so different and so vivid, I encourage you to use this book to inspire you to create some art. It doesn't have to be photography. Whether you like to sketch, sculpt, paint, or make colored soap bubbles, give yourself the chance to live freer and take a little time to express yourself. You'll feel so much better, and the rest of us will be enriched by your gift.

Express yourself . . . to find yourself!

A well printed paperback facsimile of the original 1939 hardback edition of this famous book. The 112 photos, one to a page with a short headline and quote, capture the desperate times thousands of farmers and their families endured in the South and Midwest and their migration to an uncertain future in California. Nearly all of the photos were taken by Dorothea Lange and this includes forty-six that she took for the Farm Security Administration between 1935 and 1938.

In the back of the book there are two essays, one by Sam Stourdze, is an excellent explanation of how Lange and Taylor compiled the book. The sales fell well short of their expectations and Stourdze comments "the rigor of its approach, the verism of its oral testimony and the radicality of its photographs were hardly designed to have mass appeal" Quite right I think, having looked through the book many times I don't think the powerful photos are backed up by adequate captions. All the photos are anonymous, even the ones with people, and surely any reader would want to know who are these folk, what is their story? This information was available because Lange took detailed notes on all her photographic assignments. It's as if the author's thought the only way they could put their point across was in an abstract way and ignore the very human turmoil the photos clearly show. In 1937 photographer Margaret Bourke-White and writer Erskine Caldwell compiled a similar photo book about the living conditions of the desperately poor rural underclass, called 'You Have Seen Their Faces' (reissued as a paperback in 1995) but here the photos and captions blend together better.

'An American Exodus' is a book of remarkable photos and well worth having if you are interested in America during the Depression years. BTW, the book reproduces the back dust jacket of the original and the New York publisher, Reynal & Hitchcock, list other "Vital books of our Time" and for three bucks you could buy 'Mein Kampf' by Adolf Hitler, "The blueprint of the Nazi program by the man who is shaking the world. No American should miss it".

These heart-breaking black & whites were shot while Lange and her husband Paul Taylor were under contract with the Federal WPA and chronicle the exodus of dustbowl refugees of the Great Depression and the anguish of their daily struggles for survival in the 'promised land' of California. Some of these photographs are difficult to view, giving an infinite depth-of-field perspective of the arid, ruined farms and starving families of the midwest hitch-hiking or walking (sometimes barefoot) to find a better life. For it's superb detail, brutal realism, and captured raw emotion, this collection is regarded as one of the most important photographic documentaries published during the 20th century. It is criminal this masterful work has not been reissued in affordable hardback binding. Scholar, amateur photographer, and layman will surely peruse these monumental pages with pleasure for years to come.

Are you looking for non-fiction which is well-written and interesting, and covers topics over which students are generally tested for state proficiency or competency standards? This book fits all requirements. The author doesn't flinch at presenting the difficult, occasionally less-than-flattering side of the talented photographer, so that the reader comes away with a feeling of having met a "real" person, albeit one with tremendous talent. Yet, Partridge focuses on the life and times of her subject without "sensationalism". The book is well-written. Partridge never talks down to her readers, and her clear language and vocabulary should be well within the capabilities of 7th, 8th or 9th grade students. This book ties art, social studies and language arts together in perfect harmony for a study of the Depression Era of US history. Adults will enjoy this book as well.

Well I love photography and for thoes of you who do this is the best book. Dorthea Lange was the best photographer and is obviously my favorite. This book tells the great story of her life and has great classic photos. I highly recomend this book

Do you want to learn about American History? Do you want your mind and heart expanded? Do you want to be touched, to be moved to tears? Then buy a copy of this marvelous book of Lange's photographs and let your journey begin. She has the amazing ablility to reveal the very essence of her subject matter - the human spirit. Enjoy!

A wonderful book showing the people of Ireland from the past. It is my favorite coffee table book

A wonderful book of eighty-five, beautifully printed, Dorothea Lange photos. I think the best ones are forty-seven from the thirties when Lange was part of a small group of photographers employed by the Government to record the plight of the rural poor. Their output (now in the Library of Congress and accessible to all) was the most complete photographic record of a nation ever undertaken. Lange and Walker Evans were, depending on your point of view, the most talented of this group and you can see why by looking at her photos in this book. Keith Davis says in the introduction... "Her photographs are at once bluntly factual and deeply sympathetic. While Lange recorded innumerable scenes of destitution, she consistently evoked the resilience, faith and determination of her subjects". I think her point-of-view comes across in all the work shown in this book. After the thirties the remaining photos cover her work up to 1958.

All the photos have dated captions and many have background information about what is being shown plus the thoughts of Lange and her subjects. The back of the book has a chronology, bibliography and print source. This is a lovely record of her photographic work but if you want to know more, these two books take a comprehensive look at her life, 'Dorothea Lange: American Photographs' by Therese Heyman, Sandra Phillips and John Szakowski and 'Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime' by Robert Coles.

BTW, this is the second book of American images I have reviewed in the last few days, the other one was a selection of photos taken over a number of years by British photographer Nick Waplington of a small town in New Mexico called Truth or Consequences (also the books title) but what a contrast, the Lange book has captions and other information, the photographer's thoughts, chronology, bibliography, sources while Waplington's book has none of this, not even page numbers! It raises questions (least to me) about how publishers regard their readers.

This anthology is a well-packaged, heart-warmingly first-person annoted retrospective of Lange's career. Enlighening glimpses into Lange's personal point-of view are offered here, showcasing her stark Depression-era WPA migration shots alongside her later vignettes of the American western plains and western coastal dwellers captured in their every day routines. Therein lies this collection's strength and weakness: while her Americana movement captured a rural slice of America which later mediums still struggle to duplicate, that subject matter still did not match the sheer horror and power of her WPA work, which captured the raw strength of the human spirit during life-threatening crises. The diversity of this collection makes it an essential introductory volume, however.

I had just recently seen a Lange exhibit when I bought this wonderful book. It starts with an essay on Lange by Robert Coles. Then it moves into her photographs and her own words. Her work is beautiful on its own, but to have the photographs and her philosophy side by side is an enriching experience. The photographs fill the entire book so it's a great read and a nice coffee table book. The images are primarily from her depression photos, but there are also pictures from around the world, her family and her early portraits. I also like that they included photographs of her and her oak trees. Dorothea Lange was a woman with such a unique perspective on life. I feel that this book does an excellent job of presenting her work.

This book is put together in a way that allows readers to meet Dorothea Lange on different levels. On a personal level through family (or "just like" family) members, friends, and through Ms. Lange's own words (wonderfully used as text to complement her photographs). On a professional level, an interview with one of Ms. Lange's fellow photographers is included, along with chapter-long essays by those who have studied her work and life. I feel the strengths of this book are the organization, essays by those who knew Ms. Lange personally, and Ms. Lange's words.

The photographs are direct, honest and beautiful. Ms. Lange, her life, and words at times tough and unyielding, yet are luminous, and always "true".

Fascinating book about the famous photographer. A woman before her time in many ways. This is an honest account of what many who worked with her, lived with her and loved her thought OF her. The pictorial story of American life will capture your attention.

This book is very informative and filled with good solid facts. Any Dorthea Lange fan can appreciate this book.