Product Description
This engaging look at the Second People's Summit of the Americas depicts a different experience than what was presented in news coverage. Contributors seek answers to explain the treatment of protesters, marvel at the strength of character of those they encountered, and celebrate the successes. Reflecting the thoughts of those who felt compelled to go to the protestors and talk about how they chose to participate, this book encourages forward thinking and community activity. ... Read more

Product Description
From Romeo and Juliet to Sonny and Cher to Kermit and Miss Piggy, couples have always been part of the social landscape. In this poignant and nostalgic collection of found photographs, the timeless experience of falling in love is captured by photo booth snapshots, vacation candids, and wedding portraits cherished by lovers from long ago.

Young and old, playful or passionate, these photographs make it abundantly clear that love is all around us. Intimate and romantic, Couples is a must-have for anyone who has ever been struck by Cupid’s arrows. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A little treasure of intimate moments
I recently came across this book, and I love it. Iwork in the Graphic Design Department for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon. As a keen photographer and lover of traditional photography, I find this book refreshing and uplifting. It is full of images that have captured a particular moment between man and woman. It reminds the viewer of a time when a photograph was a valued possession and a keepsake. I like that the images represent an intimate, personal moment between two people. Page after page depicts a different couple in a different time and place, but with the common them of togetherness and intimacy.

As a keen photographer I love that the book shows the prints in their original form. The old polaroids with the white borders, the photo booth prints depicted at actual size, black and white, and hand tinted prints are all represented. This helps the honesty of the images and processes,and the realness and truth of a capturedmoment.

This book is a wonderful collection. It is a little treasure of intimate moments between couples and now because of Karin Elsener and Roger Handy, these moments are shared with anyone who is lucky enough to page through it.

Put guests in a mood
Though "Couples" is more than a coffee table book, if it were, it would certainly stimulate conversation.Mr. Handy and Ms. Elsener prove to possess keen eyes for the witty and purely romantic in their photographic survey of American couples in years past.The fact that the pictures are found photos makes them all the more alluring in their mystery.

Better than "Rear Ends", but that doesn't mean its good
The book's premise is good enough to make me want to buy it. A collection of found or thrown away photographs, rescued and compiled to try to "capture the essence of being a couple" or something foolish sounding like that

what you actually get are plenty of photo's of couples, some of them interesting or unusual, but many of them bland or almost impossible to make out

None of the other reviewers mentioned this, but several of these photos are about 2" x 2", like the actual size of a photo you'd get from a photo booth. Many of the other ones are 3x3" or 4x3". That's fine for close ups, like actual photo booth pictures, but many of them are shot from 20 feet away or farther, and all you can see is 2 tiny people kissing or holding hands

I don't know what that's supposed to teach me. Chalk that up to my own ignorance and un-refinement, if you want

Some of the other ones are large enough, and have something about them that's eye-catching or interesting, maybe half of the book or so. That's why I gave it 3 stars, just because some of the photos do make you curious about the people in them, and you spend maybe 20 seconds thinking about whatever happened to them or laughing at what they're doing or whatever

But you don't learn anything about couplehood, and all in all this collection is pretty forgettable. Do yourself a favor and pick it up at a garage sale for cheap. At least that way you'll have something kitchzy, a collection of photo's rescued from garage sales and antique stores that you rescued from a garage sale. Don't pay full price for it though, its just nothing special and you most likely won't flip through it a second time

couples
A wonderful compilation of photos that capture the essence of relationships. Kudos and accolades to Roger Handy & Karin Elsner

couples
Roger Handy's project in this book and his other two is a good example of how much talent and intelligence exists outside of the orthodox mainstream. Roger has spent years developing his vision and consequently has explored the unexplored territory of vernacular photography before anyone knew it was there. He has honed and re-honed his collection of snapshots in a way consistent only with his peculiar genius, a genius for constructing an atmosphere that is pure poetry, a poetry based on an individual, subjective interpretation of life. In Roger's books, a vision of life in America between 1900 and the present, is constructed out of raw materials supplied by the very people who lived through this period: us, our parents and our grandparents. In other words this is the real deal, the American experience: the good. the bad and the ugly. Never have works of art been available for so little for so many. May Roger continue forever to enlighten us to the banal poetry of the 20th century. This is history, this is art, this is our collective life and experience. Bravo!!! ... Read more

Product Description
A visual tribute to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, this book offers a snapshot in time of a university 235 years young. Images span the geographic scope of the University's three campuses in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick, providing an armchair tour of one of America's leading educational institutions.

This remarkable portrait of Rutgers-evocative, amusing, informative,and exuberant-is drawn from the narrative of three overlappingjourneys. The longest spans nearly two and a half centuries and tracesthe University's evolution from a colonial college established totrain young men for the ministry, to its land-grant designation in themid-nineteenth century, to its current status as New Jersey's stateuniversity and a distinguished center for learning and research. Thesecond journey is the quest for knowledge and achievement that facultyand students have shared since classes were first held in themid-eighteenth century. Then, a single instructor and his handful ofcharges gathered to study in a former New Brunswick tavern. Today, athird journey travels the diverse paths of more than fifty thousandstudents and faculty each year, and starts on one of three majorcampuses throughout the state. A visit to each of them as the seasonschange in the course of an academic year completes this Rutgersalbum. ... Read more

Product Description
Photographer Greg Currier presents a very different side of America's favorite crustacean, one flooded with the brilliant colors of the buoys, boats, traps, and foul-weather gear of the working lobsterman. Currier captures beauty in the everyday experience of lobstering, as well as in the peaceful pre-dawn start of a lobsterman's day along the coast of Maine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Stunning Photographs
In the tradition of National Geographic, "The Colors of Lobstering" by renowned Maine photographer Greg Currier takes the reader on a tour of the working harbors dotting the rocky coast of Maine.
With an artist's eye and a poet's heart Mr. Currier's brilliant, evocative photographs make you feel as if you are standing on the pier watching the day's catch being unloaded.This keen photographer never takes the obvious shot.Avoiding the trap of creating a book of postcards he has created a work that feels more like an album of your family's New England vacation.
You can hear the creaking planks of the wharf as the swells gently roll in on the evening tide.One moment you can almost see your breath as you feel the bitter cold standing on the deck of a Maine lobster boat chugging through the morning mist making its way out to sea.The next you can smell the fresh cut grass as you poke around a stack of colorful old lobster buoys drying in the warm summer sunshine.
If time does not exactly stand still in Maine, it certainly moves at a slower pace.And when you view the luscious photographs in this beautiful book you cannot help but experience a sense of the serenity of life in the quaint villages nestled along America's eastern shore.We cannot all be fortunate enough to live where the morning sun brings the cry of seagulls floating on gentle breezes tinged with the faint smell of salt.But thanks to "The Colors of Lobstering" we may return to visit as often as we like.

Brings me back to Maine
I grew up in Maine and can't begin to tell you of the memories this book brings back. The colors are spectacular and the pictures capture not just lobstering but the true colors of Maine.

Greg Currier has an eye for bringing out the unique color combinations that you find hidden in the coastal towns of Maine. This book is a must have if you're looking for a small reminder of your life/trip to Maine.

This is a great little book!
Greg Currier has really captured the feeling of Maine!Looking through this book is almost like visiting again. The photos are engaging and natural even though meticulous attention to technique and subject are pointedly evident.My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen this book in a larger format.

If you've visited coastal Maine, buy this book.It really captures the "the way life should be" - as the license plate says.

If you haven't visted Maine, buy the book to enjoy and you'll certainly see why your next vacation should be to Maine! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Odd shots
This book is a photojournal of trips that Brecelj took around the world in the 1990s, from South America to the Middle East, from Russia to Papua New Guinea.The photos are not presented in chronological or topical order.They don't tell a coherent story.Instead, Brecelj was seeking to create interesting juxtapositions by pairing photos on facing pages that may have some underlying aspect in common.

Brecelj is a member of the art-world, and many of his Western city photos reflect this, as they mostly depict artists in their daily surroundings, doing ordinary things like washing their feet after jogging.Pictures from Russia capture some of the desolation and ruin left by the collapse of the economic system.In Indian, Brecelj was fascinated by funerary and post-funerary scenes on the Ganges.Jerusalem and the various threads of religious life there are also well represented in the book, as is the traditional culture of Oman.At the end of the book is a short section with thumbnails of each picture and a sentence or two providing more information about why Brecelj took the picture or what he sees in it.

This book would probably be most interesting for artists and photography buffs.It may also have some interest for travel readers.

Absolutely Wonderful Coffee table book!
This book is one of my favorite photography books in my collection. My reasoning is simple, you pick up the book and the pictures are so varied and random that no matter what page you turn to you are pleased. The bookoffers so much variety; each picture evokes a different emotion and holds adifferent story. The angles and colors used are stunning and it's coffeetable worth is simply invaluable. I give it 5 Stars! ... Read more

Product Description
It may be hard to believe, but there actually was a time when the postcard image was not a cliché. To reach it, you'll have to set your clock back to the end of the nineteenth century, when an Act of Congress allowed Americans to mail a card for just one cent. A few years later, Kodak introduced an easy-to-use and affordable folding camera that put postcard power into the hands of ordinary citizens, setting off a craze. Real Photo Postcards is a collection of the most outlandish and idiosyncratic, beautiful and even occasionally bizarre images of this early postcard period. Painstakingly assembled from the collection of Harvey Tulcensky, one of the world's most avid collectors of these original postcards, Real Photo Postcards includes images of natural phenomena (floods, storms, fires), Main Street America, rural life, political parades, and wacky "exaggeration" cards (such as a photographically manipulated giant rabbit!). Together these cards show an oddly personal and intimate perspective of America at the turn of the 20th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An excellent look at the dawn of popular photography...
Witnessing the dawn of a new art form is a rare experience made even rarer by the lack of documentary evidence. For example, nobody recorded the invention of musical notation in Mesopotamia (c. 2000 BC) or the first use of perspective painting in ancient Greece (c. 900 BC).

Thank heavens, then, for Harvey Tulcensky. His amazing 2,000+ piece collection forms the core of this wonderful little book. It's a joy to behold these candid and captivating photo postcards. I only wish the publisher would issue about 20 more volumes! To understand why this book is so valuable, a little historical background is in order:

Kodak introduced it's first "Brownie" camera in February 1900. Made of cardboard, it cost about $1 and enabled many ordinary people to start taking photographs for the first time. Over the next ten years or so, Eastman Kodak perfected the box-like camera, making it easier to use and much sturdier for traveling shutterbugs. In 1907, the U.S. Congress passed a new law that enabled photo postcards to be sent throughout America using a single one-cent stamp (usually the green Benjamin Franklin penny stamp).

These two innovation sparked an enormous wave of interest in amateur photography. Hundreds of millions of photo postcards were mailed over the next five years -- approximately two postcards for every man, woman and child in the country EVERY YEAR, by my calculation. Every state. Every topic. Every imaginable theme. Not only was it a technological and business boom, it also gave rise to a tremendous spirit of experimentation.

Many of the "cutting edge" techniques that we associate with professional art photography, such as photo-montage, image manipulation, double-exposures, social realism, photojournalism, etc., were actually invented by amateur photographers and small-town photo shops in the years just before World War I.

This book provides a delightful sampling of genuine photo postcards from that golden era. Each section is organized by theme, such as the workplace, transportation, farming, disasters, portraits, etc. Most are from the United States, with a smattering from France and perhaps the U.K. Author Todd E. Alden and editor Laetitia Wolff deserve our great thanks for assembling this wonderful peek inside Tulcensky's collection. The book's only shortcomings are these:

-- Alden's introductory essay is too short. Readers would benefit from a much longer discussion of the social and technological origins of the penny postcard boom. (I get the impression that Alden is more artist than historian.)

-- I'd like to see the address side of each postcard, which we only get on rare occasions. If that's not feasible, at least provide more complete notes on each postcard.

-- A photograph of postcard collector Tulcensky (himself an accomplished artist) would be very nice.

Overall, however, I give this book a solid A. It's a wonderful addition to just about any library. Thank you, Princeton Architectural Press. More please!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I also collect postcards and photography from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Unbelievable eye
I collect postcards, and any postcard collector will be drawn to similar images, the exaggerated giant ears of corn,Colonel Teddy Roosevelt, the disaster cards of train derailment, or a gathering of balloons for a race.In the collection Tulcensky' artistic eye shines in some of the unique selections:the car with lion-headed costumed riders in the back, workers at a salt mine,or a bridge of Pomeranian dogs over a child from 1908.

All of the cards are "real photo" postcards, taken with a camera, and not a printing press. The postmarks in this collection are included so about half the cards are dated and range from 1901 to 1950, but probably most being 1909-1919. All are in black and white, and may include the text of the note on the postcard.The brief interview with Tulcensky reveals his interest. This book will be enjoyed not just by postcard collectors, but those interested in images taken the by the "everyman".

postcards made from Kodak camera influencing subjects and styles of later photography
In the early 1900s, Kodak promoted real photo postcards which could be mailed for one cent through the post office using the company's first inexpensive, portable camera made for the public. Such a post card could be made out of any photograph taken by the camera. The nearly 200 real photo cards show the variety of ways the public responded to this opportunity to try out the new camera and get in touch with relatives and friends. People would send photos of parades, circuses, snowstorms, and pictures of themselves, often in playful poses or amusing settings. Some of the cards were surreal-like with their distortions in the sizes of objects; which could also be amusing, as one from Kansas where a giant cricket is attacking a car and the note, "See what we have to put up with out here." The amateurish, popular use and subjects is apparent in practically all of the photo postcards. But what is also apparent--pointed out in the brief introductory essay--is the real photo postcards' part in familiarizing the public with the camera and interesting them in its possibilities, laying the grounds for the photojournalism and the art photography of the following decades. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Astounding, tough work.
This book is one of the most extraordinary documents I have ever seen. Brave and ferocious and tender all at once. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Great Resource for the Comic collector/fan
What a [great] set of volumes.I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff.These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics.The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper.And there's 10's of thousands of them!Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector!Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast.These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!

Covers 21700 of them.
What can you say about two books that have 21700 comic book covers beautifully printed on gloss paper?WOW! for a start. No one is going to better Ernst and Mary Gerber's five-year labor of love to complete this project.If you collect comics from 1935 thru 1965 you need these.I don't collect them but as a publication designer I have an interest in the visual aspects of popular culture so I got a set...despite the price!

Open either book anywhere and start looking and it soon becomes apparent that this is a very comprehensive collection, I kept coming across comics that ran for a few issues, sometimes only one issue. Each cover has up to twenty-five pieces of information, essential for collectors. Many show a cover of the only copy known to exist.The first sixteen pages of each book has text about collecting comics and their values.I liked the page in book two that isdevoted to ads that appeared on the back covers, strangely some collectors only go for these, if you do, go for a copy of 'Hey Skinny!' by Mike Beller and Jerry Leibowitz, surely the only book about the subject.

Author Gerber says on the jacket flap...''if you spend one minute examining each picture, eight hours per day, five days a week, it would require an astounding NINE weeks to complete the job.'' Nine weeks later have a rest and then go and buy the two volume 'Photo-Journal Guide to Marvel Comics' and start to look at a further 7700 covers!

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

A gorgeous compilation of 20th Century Art!
I was amazed at the scope of this book, every cover from 1935-1965, and the labor that must have gone into compiling and producing it.Its extremely well photographed, carefully indexed, and the quality of paperand binding is excellent.For serious comic book collectors, it's worthevery penny.A lifetime book.

OUTSTANDING !!!!!!!!
I've got both volumes of this book and it is invaluble to me as a collector of golden age comic books. I would recomend this book only so you can see some of the outrageous 1940's war covers i.e Japanese soldiers withhuge teeth. Some of the price information is now out of date, but Gerber isspot on with the scarcity ratings. What I like most about these two volumesis that it gives me a chance to see covers of comics that I will never beable to afford. ... Read more

Product Description
One woman's passionate battle for justice.

Letizia Battaglia's story, her vision of Sicily, and her fight for justice against the Mafia as revealed in this biographical monograph is as stunning as it is heroic. This W. Eugene Smith Award-winning photographer demonstrates photography's power to serve as both a weapon and a voice for the silent majority.

After years of fighting for the life of her troubled city of Palermo-as a photographer, deputy councilwoman, ecological activist, defender of women's rights, and defender of human rights-Battaglia continues the battle with the fierce passion, intelligence, and vision for which she is known.

Letizia Battaglia: Passion, Justice, Freedom juxtaposes iconic pictures of the everyday joy, suffering, and vitality of the Palermitani with images showing the effects of the Mafia predators who have controlled much of the city for so long.

Along with an intimate profile of the photographer by Melissa Harris, Alexander Stille chronicles Battaglia's fight against the Mafia, putting her photographs in the context of Palermo in the 1980s and '90s. Renate Siebert addresses the heretofore unexplored role of women and the Mafia in her essay. Magazine editor Simona Mafei contributes an essay about her work with Battaglia.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Staggering Images
With an impending trip to Sicily in sight, a friend lent me this staggering portfolio of Battaglia's images from the streets of her home, Palermo. She cites Joseph Koudelka (the foremost photographer of Gypsies, as far as I'm concerned), and Dianne Arbus, as inspirations for her work. If she hadn't mentioned them herself, I think they would be the names her work brings to mind; the immedicay and warmth of the former, the shock of the American. This is a brilliant selection of photos. I don't think even Sebastian Salgado(the other familiar photographic name she cites)has ventured his camera into territory which incites such awe. Hers is an impossible act to imitate or follow, a consummate emotional achievement with great political clout. Together with a re-read of Peter Robb's, 'Midnight in Sicily', and,'The Leopard', I'm at least intellectually better prepared for the trip than with a tattered copy of my Lonely Planet Guide to the locale. Robb meets Battaglia on p239 of his rigorous exegis and speaks of 'each photo(being) a shock, the accumulative effect devastating. Not taken with art, though with the strengths that art might have envied'. Absolutely! ... Read more

Product Description
Tribes of the Great Rift Valley is a celebration of the traditional peoples who occupy the lands of the Great Rift Valley, from the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Eritrea, across the Ethiopian highlands, and down to the great lakes and plains of Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. Here are the proud, majestic warriors of the Maasai and Samburu, the Mursi with their jutting lip-plates, the guinea-fowl-painted faces of the Karo, the bull jumpers of the Hamar, and the honey seekers of the forests, the Batwa, among many other tribes. These fascinating peoples of the Rift Valley are remarkably diverse, yet sadly, nearly all of these communities face extinction in the near future due to Western influence.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s glorious black-and-white photography accompanied by her thoughtful, engaging text, offers sweeping views of this magnificent and sometimes harsh landscape and its peoples. Thought-provoking and remarkable, Tribes of the Great Rift Valley is a time capsule, perhaps even the last record, of age-old traditions and a way of life that will almost certainly soon vanish from our planet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Tribes of the Great Rift Valley
This is a beautiful book, with black and white photographs of some of the disappearing peoples of the Great Rift Valley.While it comes behind incredible works by others in this field, like Mirella Ricciardi's "Vanishing Africa" and several of Carol Beckwith's books, I think the author gave it a very comprehensive try and came out with an interesting book.Some of the photographs were taken at great distances, showing big landscapes, where I would have preferred more in-depth glimpses into the faces of the people of the land.

finally a photojournal of Africa that's respectful of its subject matter
I was in Borders looking for a coffee table book about Africa. Most of the books I looked at seemed more interested in honoring the author's enormous ego than in honoring the Africans who were being photographed.

This book immediately caught my eye. The photograph on the cover is beautiful, but beyond that, I noticed the camera angle was looking up to its subject (as opposed to "down on"). The second thing I noticed was the text. In the other books often the biggest word on the cover was the name of the photojournalist. A picture says a thousand words, and I liked what this picture was saying.

As I paged through the book I grew even more impressed. The photography is absolutely stunning, and the story told through the pictures and their captions is deeply moving, a testament to the author's humbleness and integrity, not to mention *talent.*

If you're looking for a coffee table book on traditional African tribal culture, this is the one to get.

A Journey thru Time
An informative historical document on the life of African Tribes, beautiful photos which illustrate in detail tribal rituals and culture.
Incredible story of a young woman, a pioneer of sorts followed her dream and passion to bring light of this important cultural which is rapidly changing, a delightful and inspiring "can-do" attitude which would fuel any hearts inspirational desire, seek your best! ... Read more

Product Description
The Cold War, Sputnik, Joseph McCarthy, Fidel Castro, the Rosenbergs, Marilyn Monroe, Rosa Parks, "Father Knows Best," and "Rebel Without a Cause" are just a few of the events, people, and cultural phenomena that marked the decade of the 1950s. This stunning book--a collection of two hundred large-scale duotone photographs of the 1950s culled from the New York Times photo archives--brings this watershed period to life and examines who and what was important and why.The photographs, which include both famous and lesser-known images, are arranged thematically, under the headings "America in the World: War Hot and Cold," "Mechanization in Command," "Fame and Infamy," "Growing Up American," and "American Ways of Life." The pictures are accompanied by two major essays that look at the role and development of news photography at the New York Times and the relevance of what pictures were taken and which were published by the paper. A third, shorter essay on "the morgue" is a lively description of the photo archive, telling where and how the photos are stored. Together the photographs and essays shed new light on a decade that is still shadowed by misconceptions and stereotypes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Tumultuous Times.
A fascinating collection of two hundred large, one to a page, photos capturing the fifties. The photos are divided into five sections and each picture has a caption and credit taken from the back of the print. Page sixteen shows the back of a photo from 1953 taken in Berlin and it is a mess of crossed out picture sizes, pasted on captions, five in all, and rubber stamps, this photo has been used at least six times over the years.

I was pleased to see that most of these photos can be viewed not just as historical news images but as well crafted compositions.So many photos that we see on a daily basis (especially in the media) are purely for the moment and lack any real creative input but the ones in this book encourage you to linger and think about what the photos are saying.

Apart from the two hundred pictures there are three essays, Douglas Dreishpoon's on the background to the Times Picture Desk is particularly interesting, a twenty-one page time-line to the fifties, bibliography and index.The elegant layout and excellent printing make this book a good addition to the library of anyone interested in the recent past.

The book is published in conjunction with an exhibition of the photos that is travelling around the Nation between now and 2004

Another book of photos from the paper is 'Pictures of the Times' by Peter Galassi and Susan Kismaric, this has 154 photos covering the last century and is equally as good as 'The Tumultuous Fifties'. Both books rightly conclude that The New York Times is the world's premier daily.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This boldly illustrated and painstakingly organized expedition through the Grand Canyon "puts in" at River Mile 278 and muscles its way up the Colorado River, disembarking every few miles to examine the rocks and to consider the ways of the Canyon’s denizens, both living and ghostly: the mountain lion, the giant ground sloth, the slender scorpion, the century plant, the Havasupai, the explorers and the hermits. Hutchinson, a geologist, expertly guides the reader through the corridors of deep time as well as up the big side canyons of the Big Ditch. The text and gorgeous illustrations progress in an orderly way, passing upstream through the Canyon’s morphological segments: the Esplanade (Miles 278-143), Kaibab (143-77), Chuar (77-53), and Marble Canyon (53-0). Every one of the 120 photographic subjects and every topographic feature mentioned in the book is plotted on a splendid four-color map of Grand Canyon National Park specially commissioned for this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

gorgeous photography
I bought this for my husband the year we MULED down the Grand Canyon (I don't recommend that BTW) and it was so beautiful we bought it for my brother-in-law for Christmas

Grand Canyon National Park
Wow!This is not just your normal big photo book to set on the coffee table for an occasional browse through.This is a book to savor, page by page, slowly and with thoughtful contemplation of the stunning imagespresented both by the photographers and the author.From the firstparagraphs of the introduction, I realized this book offers an unusualjourney, as the author explains, in elegant prose, his reasoning for takingthe reader UP the Colorado River rather than down.Here is a book worthyof being used as a reference in any historical geography or geology class,yet read from cover to cover for its literary appeal.Even those who havenot visited the Grand Canyon in person will gain an awesome appreciationfor this wonder of nature by traveling with the author and photographersthrough the pages of this masterpiece.

Wish I had this treasure when I visited the Grand Canyon
Take this wonderful guide to the Grand Canyon.Not only is it informative and visually beautiful it enhances your spiritual understanding and love for the natural beauty of this magical place. Robert Hutchinson's texttakes you on an awesome adventure. ... Read more

Product Description

These whimsical collections of photos appeal to the voyeur in all of us. Each book is inspired by a single, deceptively simple concept-bags in trees, looking upward, items that say "thank you"-and the resulting photo essays are surprisingly illuminating. I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN looks at the possibilities in seemingly impossible situation through images of plants growing through cracks in concrete and other difficult places.

Customer Reviews (1)

Slow delivery
The book was in the condition promised, but I recieved it 10 days past their already long shipping time. It was intended as a birthday gift but I missed the date even though I ordered it 2 weeks prior thinking it would arrive on time. Consider this when buying from this vendor. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the world's leading photographers of wildlife and the natural environment reveals not only the astonishing beauty of this unique and diverse land, but also strikingly uncovers the wrenching conflicts between changing cultures and fragile eco-systems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Find
This out of print book came to me in a timely fashion and in great condition.I first laid eyes on it at a University library about 10 years ago and it inspired me and my husband to take a 3 month journey to Madagascar.It was an amazing trip and this beautiful photo book captures what we saw in our trip better than our own photos, doing the wonders of Madagascar justice in the glossy large format.I only wish I'd bought it sooner!

A brilliant, photoessay about a wonderful place
Madagascar is bigger than Texas. This fourth biggest island in the world, also known as the "Eighth Continent", is located 200 miles off Southeast Africa. It's as remote from the United States as you can get.

In an absolutely scintillating, evocative photo essay, prominent wildlife and nature photographer Frans Lanting explores the essence of this little-known land. Lanting's four-color photographs, in large format, are almost surrealistic at times, ever exciting, and never repetitive. From the cover onward, the show chameleons, lemurs, bottle-shaped baobab trees, needlepoint karst landscapes, eroded fields, and matchless vistas in an unending procession of the strange, eerie, and beautiful. You will be amazed as each page turns to the next. An excellent written narrative compliments the effort well.

The title is double-edged for, as well as being a fascinating anachronism, Madagascar is running out of time in our generation. Human encroachment is rapidly destroying the habitat of numerous creatures found nowhere else. The Elephant Bird, Aepyornis, whose giant egg is being held in a man's arms in the book's cover photo is gone. So is the giant lemur. Others may soon go, as well. This was, and would be, an unspeakable tragedy.

So read the book and enjoy. Then see what you can do to save at least some of this fascinating paradise.

I rate this book very highly. ... Read more

Product Description

" For more than fifty years mountain-born Earl Palmer traveled the Southern Appalachians with his camera, recording his personal vision of the mountain people and their heritage. Over these year he created, in several thousand photographs, a distinctive body of work that affirms a traditional image of Appalachia -- a region of great natural beauty inhabited by a self-sufficient people whose lives are notable for simplicity and harmony. For this book, Jean Haskell Speer has selected more than 120 representative photographs from Palmer's collection and has written a biographical and critical commentary based on extensive interviews with the photographer. Palmer's photographs, Speer argues, are significant cultural statements that depict not so much a geographical region as a particular idea of Appalachia.

Customer Reviews (3)

Homeless -- a must read
I recently picked "Homeless: Portraits of Americans in hard times" on ebay and it has knocked my socks off.

The portraits in the book are stark, shot against a black backdrop, with minimal posing. They are beautiful photographs --- ironically, since so many of us try to avoid eye contact when we encounter homeless people on the street, they make you want to look at homeless people -- and they are often accompanied, on the opposite page, by words from the subjects.

Mr. Schatz took the time to talk to the homeless people in the book, to listen to their stories, and to photograph them as they are -- not as he, the photographer, wanted them to be seen. In my eyes, this helps them go from being a group of homeless to people to individuals. They all have stories and dreams and struggles, just like you and I.

Brought tears to my eyes...
This book left me breathless....absolutely beautiful.The faces of the homeless were indescribable and brought tears to my eyes.It's hard to imagine what these people have gone through...but this book portrays it.An excellent buy!!

A compassionate look at a human problem
The images in this collection are stunning. The text equally so. (Schatz has provided the photo images and the subjects dictate their own text). The result is a very compassionate look at a real human dilema - this work willboth challenge your stereotypes of homelessness and confirm them. Forwriters, preachers, speakers and those engaged in the fight for humanjustice, you will be afforded a broad and insightful glimpse into the worldofhomeless persons - one that will either enflame your heart or cause youto bolt. ... Read more