Synopses & Reviews
We all know Dorothea Lange"s iconic photos'"the 'Migrant Mother' holding her child, the gaunt men forlornly waiting in breadlines'"but few know the arc of her extraordinary life. In this sweeping account, renowned historian Linda Gordon charts Lange"s journey from polio-ridden child to wife and mother, to San Francisco portrait photographer, to chronicler of the Great Depression and World War II. Gordon uses Lange"s life to anchor a moving social history of twentieth-century America, re-creating the bohemian world of San Francisco, the Dust Bowl, and the Japanese American internment camps. She explores Lange"s growing radicalization as she embraced the democratic power of the camera, and she examines Lange"s entire body of work, reproducing more than one hundred images, many of them previously unseen and some of them formerly suppressed. Lange reminds us that beauty can be found in unlikely places, and that to respond to injustice, we must first simply learn how to see it.
Synopsis
We all know Dorothea Lange's iconic photos--the Migrant Mother holding her child, the shoeless children of the Dust Bowl--but now renowned American historian Linda Gordon brings them to three-dimensional life in this groundbreaking exploration of Lange's transformation into a documentarist. Using Lange's life to anchor a moving social history of twentieth-century America, Gordon masterfully re-creates bohemian San Francisco, the Depression, and the Japanese-American internment camps. Accompanied by more than one hundred images--many of them previously unseen and some formerly suppressed--Gordon has written a sparkling, fast-moving story that testifies to her status as one of the most gifted historians of our time. Finalist for the Book Prize; a Notable Book; New Yorker's A Year's Reading; and Best Book.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2010 Bancroft Prize and the 2009 Los Angeles TimesBook Prize in Biography: Dorothea Lange’s photographs define how we remember the Depression generation; now an evocative biography defines her creative struggles and enduring legacy.
Synopsis
A richly human portrait of the eminent photographer whose luminous Depression-era images had the democratizing impact of a Steinbeck novel.The material is fascinating, and [the] presentation sterling.Gordon's elegant biography is a testament to Lange's gift for challenging her country to open its eyes.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2010 Bancroft Prize and finalist for the 2009 Book Prize in Biography: The definitive biography of a heroic chronicler of America's Depression and one of the twentieth century's greatest photographers.
About the Author
Linda Gordon is the Florence Kelley Professor of History at New York University. She is the author of numerous books including Dorothea Lange and Impounded, and won the Bancroft Prize for The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction. She lives in New York.