The Americans

EAN:9783865215840 Label:Steidl/National Gallery of Art, WashingtonArray Binding:Hardcover

The controversy surrounding this book is the perfectly natural - even compelled - result of the fact that 83 pictures cannot begin to represent the absolute infinite number of perspectives on life in the United States - or, the world, for that matter Worth the Money. Indeed, that it is titled "The Americans," with the intimation that it is a definitive photographic explication of the topic, demands the debate2009-03-09 Rating 4. Nevertheless, the pictures are deeply evocative and I am so pleased to have it in my library. One other note on Mr. Frank. I became familiar with him through an interview on the Bob Edwards radio show related to the fiftieth anniversary of the book's publication. In that interview, Mr. Frank noted that he saw southerners in the fifties as "arrogant in their righteousness," and went to express his gratitude that things had changed since then. Having been born in the deep south in 1954, and having lived here all my life, I share some of Mr. Frank's gratitude that things have changed. However, pockets of the South remain backwards, despite the changes that have taken place around them. In these pockets, folks remain overbearing in their righteousness - arrogant and primitive in their fundamentalist religious faith. Often as not they abuse - simply because they can get away with it - those who don't think according to their prescribed and, sadly, myopic "norms. " In these areas, anti-intellectualism is seen as a positive character trait. But, if you have a genuine interest in - and are open to the idea of - seeing the world through insightful eyes, you wouldn't be wasting your money on this book. I heard a bit about this terrific collection of Robert Frank photos on NPR, commemorating the 50th anniversary of its publication in the US Pictures that bring wry smiles. The collection is wonderful, with many shots of a side of 1950s America not usually seen by the public2009-02-23 Rating 5. Robert Frank lugged his camera to black funerals, dirty city streets and urban rooftops to capture the unglamorous -- yet very real -- people who lived there. Some of his images are startling and beautiful. A newsstand's stack of displayed magazines melds into the stacked framework of an office building; a statue of St. Francis, backlit against a murky sky, striding forward to preach repentance to the gas station across the street; an ugly jumble of rooftops is softened by gauzy curtains through which the image was shot. There is plenty of understated social commentary to be seen as well. A city bus dashes by with its load of whites and blacks -- males and whites in the foremost seats, kids in the middle, blacks in the back -- that perfectly mirrors the social pecking order of the day. An overexposed image shows an older black women holding a white baby -- her presence the only splash of color in a world that is otherwise stark and white. And jukeboxes have never seemed so otherworldly than in Frank's images. Nearly all of Frank's seemingly ordinary images carry some sort of a subtle bite or humorous twist. One of my favorite images is of a cowboy lighting a cigarette on a street in New York street -- and in the background is a truck with "Dodge" (as in Dodge City) in prominent letters. This sense of twisted fun and irony makes the photos viewable from an artistic level, exciting intellectually, but also fascinating from a social perspective. Frank's point of view is fairly obvious -- he opposes racial bigotry and marginalization of the poor -- but he is never condemnatory toward his subjects or to the story he is telling. "The Americans" is a terrific collection from a gifted and humane artist. It will make you smile. Robert Frank is a genius Inspirational photography. This book is a classic and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in any aspect of photography2009-02-12 Rating 5. . I realize that review may be photograher blasphemy, but I didn't find this book to be as amazing as I had heard Meh.. This may be partially due to the fact that the photographs were taken in a time that I have a hard time relating to2009-01-30 Rating 3. As for the quality of the photographs and the quality of the book - both are top-notch. Great book, not much new to say about it Very inspirational. But I find it fantastically inspirational in that it again show a series of very successful images based in vision and imagery instead of tools and mechanics2008-12-21 Rating 5. For today's photographers its very easy to get trapped in megapixel and the latest lens race. this is a book shot for images. If you are a photographer or into photography, just buy the book and start enjoying, you will come back to this over and over again. In 1958, the first edition of Robert Frank's The Americans was published in Paris Les Américains contained Frank's 83 photographs in the same sequence as all subsequent editions, with the image on the right hand page, but juxtaposed with historical texts about American society and politics, gathered by Alain Bosquet. The following year, in the first American edition, the French texts were removed and an introduction by Jack Kerouac was added