I first got a hold of this book when I was cleaning up the bookshelves of my deceased father, who had received a copy from Mrs. Sally Price as a token of her appreciation for his help when she was collecting information for it (she autographed the inside cover). Being thoroughly familiar myself with the Surinam Bushnegroes (so I thought until then), I read a greater part of the book reviewing in particular the chapters on designs of loincloths and the cultural and religious meanings of different artifacts. It was stunningly accurate and then some. Comparing the information in the book with my own knowledge and experience I found it to be very informative and enjoyable to read. It's a pity, though, that most pictures are black & white. When examining the different designs of loincloths, a great deal of information is lost since the colors are not conveyed. Since design and color together convey a message, a black & white picture tells only half a story. Nevertheless, a reader who wants to get his feet wet in the life & times of Maroons, will have to don rubber boots when reading this book about the best preserved maroon tribes in the world; the Bushnegroes of Suriname.

Richard and Sally Price are practicing anthropologists who have written a novel about some of the non-academic aspects of their work. Based on their real experiences, this book describes a detective hunt to establish the authenticity of some South American tribal and slave artifacts. But a simple yes/no question quickly blurs into shades of grey as they worm their way through collectors who 'restore' pieces, native carvers who mix styles to please buyers and museum officials trying to justify monies spent.

The book provides a fascinating philosophical discussion of authenticity and the differences between the way the art world and the academic world define it. Every page includes a photograph of an artifact discussed in the story, only at the end do we get a glimpse of which were genuine and which were not.

I expected a quick read and got a picture of a world I've never seen before. A boundary stretching book that holds your attention with personal narrative. I'll never look at a native mask or bowl the same way again.

Sally Mann's "Immediate Family" is startling when you first open it. Not because the children who are so often her subjects are nude much of the time, but because the scenes immediately draw you in and hold you like a feather gripped by a dirty-faced wild child. I grew up in rural Tennessee, and though I didn't have the freedom of the Mann children in some ways,I feel an affinity with them unlike any other children I've seen in these kinds of collections and was instantly transported back to my early years. My favorite pictures are "Crossed Sticks", which perfectly depicts the energy and vitality of childhood, and "Virginia at 3", which inspires both curiosity and empathy in me whenever I see it. I'm glad someone like Sally Mann is out there to portray childhood honestly and fearlessly, and I will treasure this book.

I've owned this book for a few years and still look at it occasionally. Mann is a masterful photographer and technically is an even more masterful printer. She is adept at staging her children in these poses for maximum impact. My favorites were the ones that brought back some of my sweeter childhood memories. Since purchasing this book I've learned that many of the photos have become bestsellers in the fine art world and that some are worth as much as $6000 each now. Mann is very popular and was chosen as Time's favorite photographer recently. There are a few of the photos, though, that bother me - some seem to suggest harm to the children and even death. I'm not sure why those are included - except perhaps for their "shock value". A fine book overall though and I would purchase it again.

All of the photographs in this collection were taken with an 8x10 view camera, even those that have the appearance of candid, random snapshots. Many of the images are carefully manipulated in the darkroom to give one of the subjects an eerie, almost angelic luminescence in scenes dominated by hardship, tragedy, and crushing rural poverty. Sally Mann is a major artist, supported by Guggenheim, NEH and NEA grants, and this is some of her very best work. Readers should be warned that some will consider this work to border on child pornography. While this is absolutely not the case (and I vigorously support prosecution of those who exploit children in any fashion), in some localities this could almost be a "dangerous" book to own. Sally Mann's disturbing and transcendent vision will outlast our current hysteria and misunderstanding and will endure as photographic literature.

Sally Price makes a great point in this small, readable book -- Westerners place so-called "primitive" art (art from non-Western countries) into a different category than "Western art." This is why one must usually visit a natural history museum to see non-Western art! The "primitive" artist is nameless and supposedly representative of his/her entire society. Could we say the same of Western artists? Price discusses these and similar intriguing questions about why Western societies view non-Western art as closer to nature than to culture.