Synopses & Reviews
Robert Capa was arguably the finest photojournalist of the twentieth century and without doubt its greatest combat photographer-he covered every major conflict from the Spanish Civil War to the beginnings of Vietnam. An inveterate gambler who coined the dictum "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," Capa risked his life again and again, most dramatically as the only photographer landing with the first wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day, and he created some of the most enduring images ever made with a camera.
But the drama in Capa's life wasn't limited to one side of the lens. Born in Budapest as Andre Freidman, Capa fled political repression and anti-Semitism as a teenager by escaping to Berlin, where he first picked up a Leica and then witnessed the rise of Hitler. By the time his images of D-Day appeared in Life Magazine, he had become a legend, the first photographer to make his calling appear glamorous and sexy, and the model for many of the most intrepid photographers to this day. In 1947, after a decade covering war, he founded a cooperative agency-Magnum-and in the process revolutionized the industry. For the first time, photographers would retain their own copyrights and negatives, and nearly half a century later, Magnum remains the most prestigious agency of its kind.
By the time he died, at just forty-one in 1954, Capa was not only the greatest adventurer in photographic history. He had become a colleague and confidant to writers Irwin Shaw, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway and director John Huston, and a seducer of several of his era's most alluring icons, including Ingrid Bergman.
From Budapest in the twenties to Paris in the thirties, from post-war Hollywood to Stalin's Russia, and from New York in the fifties to Indochina, Blood and Champagne is a wonderfully evocative account of Capa's life and times. Based on extensive interviews with Capa's friends and contemporaries, as well as FBI and Soviet files and other previously unpublished materials, Alex Kershaw's biography is every bit as compelling as its charismatic subject.
Review
"It does seem to me that Capa has proved beyond all doubt that the camera need not be a cold mechanical device. Like the pen, it is as good as the man who uses it. It can be the extension of mind and heart." --John Steinbeck
"Ambition, integrity and courage were intertwined in Capa, as Alex Kershaw persuades in this elegant biography ...a spellbinding portrait of his gypsy life." --Christopher Sylvester, Sunday Times (UK)
"A fine read, full of high emotion like watching Casablanca for the first time. A tale rich with intrigue, love, lust, lies and betrayal...I loved this book." --Janine di Giovanni, Literary Review (UK)
"This new biography has many of the ingredients of an adventure story." --Martin Gayford, Sunday Telegraph (UK)
"Remarkably fine." --Justine Picardie, Daily Telegraph (UK)
"Packed with good stories, and snappily written, Blood and Champagne is as full of life as the man it celebrates." --Observer (UK)
Review
"Packed with good stories, and snappily written, Blood and Champagne is as full of life as the man it celebrates." Observer (UK)
Synopsis
Blood and Champagne is a fitting title for a biography of Robert Capa. Friend of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and John Huston, lover of beautiful women (including Hollywood icon Ingrid Bergman), Capa lived a life filled with equal parts glamour and danger. The best of combat photographers, his assignments pulled him into the worst fighting of the Spanish Civil War, the landings at Normandy, paratrooper missions over Holland, and the first years of the Indochina conflict, where he was killed in 1954 at age forty-one. When still in his thirties he helped found the Magnum photo agency and was known to generals and bartenders, politicians, gamblers, and movie stars. Yet no one knew that Capa was not even his real name, and that his greatest artistic achievement may well have been himself.
Synopsis
Friend of Hemingway, John Huston, and lover of beautiful women, Capa lived a life that was equal parts glamour and danger. He was the best of combat photographers, yet no one knew that Capa was not his real name, and that his greatest artistic achievement may well have been himself. Two 8-page photo inserts.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-289) and index.
About the Author
Alex Kershaw is a journalist and screenwriter. As a frequent contributor to England's
Guardian,
The Sunday Times Magazine, and
The Observer, he has worked closely with several award-winning photojournalists. His previous book was
Jack London: A Life.