This is an exhaustively researched and beautifully written book about a major force in American photography and American life. There have been many academic and art books devoted to the work of Edward Steichen, and he has written about himself on one or two occasions, but never had someone written the definitive biogaphy . . . until Penelope Niven decided to do so after "getting to know Steichen" during the years she spent researching and writing about his equally famous brother-in-law, Carl Sandburg.

Readers should not be put off by the book's density (it runs to almost 800 pages). Niven is exhaustive but not exhausting, and her narrative is easy to read, detailing the long and fascinating life of an extraordinary man. The biography is also extremely accurate. Future writers in years to come will look to this book for critical source material. The author is a born researcher.

The book is presently out-of-print, a lamentable situation given the recent Whitney Museum of American Art Steichen retrospective and a dazzling new book by Steichen's widow, Joanna Steichen. This biography, if it had been available, would have been a fine accompaniment to both, giving museumgoers and general readers the chance to learn more about this American artist,and providing a counterbalance to Joanna Steichen's more visual, personal, and introspective book.

In sum, this is the grand story of the life of an important American artist, written by a biographer not an art historian. As such, it will appeal to a wide range of readers. We look for a paperback edition of this book, and can only hope one will soon be available.

Surprisingly, this is the only biography I have found so far about Edward Steichen. Thank goodness it is an excellent one, combining extraordinary research with fine writing. For those interested in Edward Steichen's long and productive life as well as his work, this is a "must have" book, especially now that there is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Whitney Museum in New York.

Steichen was a genius, and never more so than when he influenced Alfred Steiglitz to show Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, Marin, etc for the first time ever in the United States. Steiglitz is given credit, sometimes wholly, but truly it wouldn't have happened without Steichen. I recommend this wonderful book!

This is an excellent photography book. It highlights the early career of this true master of the medium. Steichen's work rivals his contemporaries Steiglitz and Strand.A must have for any serious collector of photography monographs.

This book is printed on high quality paper, but be careful as it is a small soft-cover book with little less than 50 pages to it. And if you're already familiar with Stiechen's work, many of the photos will be very familiar to you. But, for it's price it's a nice addition to an avid collector of photography or Stiechen related photography.

I love this book.. I buy it for alot of my friends when they have babies... it has beautiful , well printed photos...

First printed in the 50's, "The Family of Man" is just loaded with images that we see until today, a history of photography. Hundreds of photographers from several countries sent their best images to this exposition. The result is this particular book.

In the same way an infant is captivated by a human face, so is the receptive reader drawn to the pages of this book, over and over again. In photographs taken around the world, the images remind us of the overwhelming preciousness of our all-too-short lives, the mystery of the universe, and the inherent potential of humankind to choose its own way.

Making us aware of our responsibility to cherish life, to handle it tenderly and respectfully, for our own sake and for the benefit of our children, is its clear intent.

I discovered this book on my parents' bookshelf at the age of six. It was my introduction to the world, as expressed through the images of others. Thanks to The Family of Man, I began to understand the vastness of the world, in contrast to my own small one.

I saw more in those images with every passing year. The aphorisms from the world's great literature, printed alongside the photographs, became comprehensible to me as I learned to read words as I had been taught by this book to read human faces. I was impressed by our vast differences, and touched and comforted by the common humanity that we share with one another.

The messages contained within this work are timeless and relevent. If I had the power to do so,I would place a copy of this book in every classroom of every grade of all the schools in the world. In my opinion, there is no one of any age for whom this book is not appropriate.

I believe from the beginning we all want to be the best we can be; somehow along the way too many of us lose hope. This book reminds us of the worthiness of the pursuit of the meaning of life. Though as individual members of the global community we may be quite different, we nonetheless see in these pictures the implications of choices made for, and against life--and we are inspired to consider thoughtfully the implications of our everyday thoughts and acts.

This may well be the first and greatest lesson in life.

I recently purchased this book, after having grown up with it in the 50s and 60s. The photographs are as stunning, vibrant and moving as I recall, and I realized that I had clearer memories of this collection of pictures than those in our family photo album - which probably says a lot about my family and cameras?!

Anyway - there's something VERY 50s about these photos - the Germans look "German" - the Irish look "Irish", and so forth. This collection of photos presents a very UN-MELTED "melting pot" at the same time it reveals a universal humanity and compassion. There's palpable joy, sorrow, pain, love, beauty, ulginess and every other human emotion depicted here. It's a beautiful book you won't be sorry you got!

The Family of Man - first published in 1955 - is the pictorial record of one of the most riveting exhibitions of photography of all time. The book, which contains some text, is a poignant treasure of the human condition - from birth to death. It shows man's relation and connection to life, regardless of country or language and all that we share through love, pain, rituals and simply coping. The phrase " a picture is worth a thousand words" comes alive in The Family of Man.

This new book by Joanna Steichen is an excellent stand-alone reference on Edward Steichen's long career in photography. The quality of the reproduction is high and the book includes a good number of photographs that are seldom or never seen in the other books written on Steichen's career. The text is easy to read and does not contain "art gibberish" - a major positive point! Joanna Steichen's comments on her relationship with Edward are revealing and are of great interest to those who have studied Edward Steichen in some detail. There is some weakness in the text in regard to events early in the century. Questions about some of the stories concerning Edward Steichen remain unanswered (for example, the often told tale of the painting burning in France still has no specific date). So far as photo selection goes the book is excellent. My only real disappointment here was in the selection of autochromes. The autochrome shown on the dust jacket is spectacular but some of the others selected are fairly well known and, in my opinion, somewhat overrated. To its credit, the book includes color reproductions of some of Edward's 1920's work such as "Wheelbarrow with Flower Pots" and "Dana and the Apple". I highly recommend this book, even to those who already have an extensive collection of books on Edward Steichen.

This book belongs in the home of everyone who loves great photography.

" . . . [S]eeing led to understanding and understanding could transform suspicion, hatred and violence into tolerance, peace and love." This was Steichen's vision for his oeuvre, as reported by his widow, Joanna, in this rewarding retrospective and series of biographical essays. In keeping with that vision, Ms. Steichen has developed this wonderful volume in the following way: "I want the reader to have optimal opportunity to experience the images simply as images." In that, she was remarkably successful. She graciously acknowledges the aid of George Tice, the last of those who printed for Steichen, in preparing the volume.

Each page is gorgeously reproduced in superb size, on great paper, and with thoughtful care concerning the sharpness, lack of sharpness, or contrast required to express Steichen's intent for each image.

Before going further, let me mention that Steichen's work does include female nudity. There are few of these images, and only one is potentially challenging for the viewer. If such things bother you, skip that section of the book called "the Body" or skip this volume.

If you are not familiar with Steichen's personal life, you should know that he and his wife first met when he was 80 and she was 28, when Carl Sandburg, Steichen's brother-in-law, introduced them. They soon fell in love and married. Steichen then drafted her to be his personal assistant, and she became very familiar with his work and collaborators. When he died, he left his negatives to her for use and disposition, and directed that she also decide who was to get his prints. From seeing the care in selecting images and the quality of their reproduction in this volume, he chose well in leaving his artistic legacy to her.

The intent of her selection process was to provide an overview of his life's work, so you get a combination of the famous and the seldom-seen here. These are grouped around themes as follows: Next of Kin (his family); of Woods and Water (landscapes), Reverie (foggy romantic images); Powerful People; Challenging Women; Style; the Body; Artists; Early Color Process; Writers; on the Road; Masters of Music; New York City; Glamour; Scale and Symbol; Improvisation; Forces of Nature; On Stage; and Flowers.

The essays about these sections contain personal anecdotes that are more revealing about his life than his work. But for those who do not know his technique, there is an overview to explain his interests and methods. For example, the connections to painting, abstraction, and setting a mood are well established. The many luminescent images against a dark background, shaded by fuzziness, are explained by his experience with mist on the lens later aided by deliberate use of saliva and indirect lighting.

My favorites of the images here include:

With Studio Camera (self-portrait), 1917

With Photographic Paraphernalia (self-portrait), 1929

Theodore Roosevelt, The White House, 1908

Walter Winchell, New York, 1929

The Cat -- Gloria Swanson, 1924

Mary Steichen, 1917

Shoes, 1927

Douglass Lighters, 1928

Thumbtacks, 1926-1927

Nude Torso, c. 1934

Dana's Hands and Grasses, Long Island, New York, 1923

The First Cast of Brancusi's "Bird in Space", c. 1925

Carl Sandburg, Umpawaug Farm, 1939

Irving Berlin, 1932

George Gershin, 1927

Martha Graham (4), New York, 1931

Noel Coward, New York, 1932

Leslie Howard, 1933

Joan Crawford, 1932

Spiral Shell, France, c. 1921

Ed Wynn, New York, 1930

Katherine Hepburn, 1933

Having seen all of these images, I came away most impressed with those rare occasions when personal character, abstraction, and shadows could be combined into the same image. The results are simply breathtaking.

Steichen has significance in three ways for the modern viewer. He pioneered in making photography an "art" rather than pure representation. These pioneering efforts established many of the major methods used by photographers since. Second, he was an important curator of photography, and he championed many careers. Third, he was remarkably talented in capturing personality, much like the great portrait painters.

The essays add a fourth dimension to Steichen that is well worth our attention. What is it like to be an acknowledged genius in your field? What are the challenges? What are the pitfalls?

"He was full of contradictions." "Meeting the daily needs of individuals was not his concern." "His capacity for connecting truly and intensely operated on a grander scale." In this way, Steichen reminds one of many great people who withdraw into their work. Compared to Einstein, his withdrawal was not nearly as complete. Compared to Picasso, he did not actually torment his family deliberately. But, it is clear that his career came before all else.

"Steichen had a conscience and room for compasssion, but he also had an urgent, lifelong mandate for accomplishment." He comes across as the archetype of the modern self-absorbed striver, and his example bears witnessing. After a rough session in which the author suffered tough treatment from her husband, friends often took her aside to reassure her that everyone eventually found their lives enriched by knowing Steichen. Ms. Steichen echoes that advice in this volume also. So ultimately, the picture you get is of someone where the heart ultimately overcame the obsession with work and self-expression, but not without creating pain for others along the way.

After you finish enjoying this delightful group of great images, I suggest that you think about your own life. Where may you have an obsession that causes pain to those around you? How can you change that approach to create more joy and happiness instead, for others and for yourself? If you are not sure, perhaps the outstanding book, Relationship Rescue, and The Relationship Rescue Workbook can help you.

Accomplish with all your heart!

This beautifully printed book is obviously a labor of love on all sides. With text by the widow of Edward Steichen, the book is unique in that it weaves together the extraordinary photographs of this great American master with an intriguing story which is more memoir than dull academic treatise. While Edward Steichen's beautifully reproduced photographs provide a feast for the eyes, Joanna Steichen tells his story and looks at their life together honestly, bringing to her text the heart and soul of a true writer. She discusses the groupings of photographs from her own experiences as the young wife of a much older, great man, and she shares her memories of their sometimes difficult marriage. Even more extraordinary is that all of this is so accessible to a general audience, which is generally not the case with most art books. What this reviewer finds particularly interesting is the way the book is laid out -- in chapters with titles like "Of Woods and Water," "Forces of Nature," and "Challenging Women," instead of by dull academic chronology or by technical photographic process. In sum, this is really two books -- an art book and a memoir -- in one, and although this may confuse professional reviewers in the national press it should not dissuade readers. Put it on your holiday list if you want to give a very special gift to a very special person. For photographers, of course, the book is a "must buy." Edward Steichen was a true American original who lived a long and exciting life to the fullest, and was a pioneer in his field. "Steichen's Legacy" will interest almost everyone.

The photographs are incredible, led by a genius who needs no introduction (although, my purchase was based on a desire to collect more of unheralded Wayne Miller's photos, after encountering his stunning Chicago South Side collection). However, it's really a shame that the print and paper production is so cheap. Somebody should reissue this stuff with an eye toward quality. And if there's a photo historian out there collecting Miller's work for publication, you have a ready customer! Just please go for a quality publishing job.