Rating: 
Summary: Tired
Review: This book consists partly of previously published, fawning and banal portraits of celebrities. The other pictures are uninspired, staged-looking, and unenlightening.A few of the dancer and athlete photos are compelling because of the grace and strength of their subjects, but that's about it. A pop magazine photographer just isn't equipped to handle the subject of "Women," which would be ambitious even for a truly visionary artist. Susan Sontag's essay, which seems to belong to a different book, doesn't offer many insights we haven't heard before, and the book is strangely designed and sloppily edited. It seems hastily made for such a weighty tome. Please save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Celebration of All Women
Review: As usual, Annie gets it right on the money with this book of a stunning array of WOMEN. She portrays every woman, whether it's Hillary Clinton or a maid in a Vegas hotel, with the same photographic honesty I have come come to expect of her. It's my dream to be able to capture the essence of a person even a tenth as well as Annie does. And Annie, if you need any new models....
Rating: 
Summary: The Modern Woman in all her Glory
Review: Annie has collected a stimulating bunch of photos celebrating women and put them together into the ultimate coffee table book. For women struggling with their identity, and their evolution into the modern woman, the photos wil carry great meaning. Sontag's essay adds further depth. Imagine a camera that can capture the soul, and you'll have an inkling as to what you are in for here. Finally a photo tribute to women for their strength and not their sexuality.
Rating:
Summary: Redefining Women: More Roles and New Expressions of Beauty
Review: This book deserves more than five stars. I think it would make a wonderful gift for any young woman starting to decide what it means for her to be a woman. As Susan Sontag tells us in the essay, "Each of these pictures must stand on its own. But the ensemble says, So this is what women are now -- as different, as varied, as heroic, as forlorn, as conventional, as unconventional as this." This exciting book will challenge everyone's concept of what women are and can be in their roles. Many viewers will be uncomfortable with those poerful challenges, while others will find the images to be mentally liberating. "Ambition is what women have been schooled to stifle in themselves, and what is celebrated in a book of photographs that emphasizes the variety of women's lives today," according to Susan Sontag. Underneath this conceptual work comes a theme built around a striking new sense of what beauty means in a woman, and it has nothing to do with youth and physical perfection. Ms. Leibovitz wonderfully captures what I think of as "soulful" beauty in this remarkable collection of new photographs done for this book. Interestingly, her most beautiful "soul pictures" come of people who are the oldest and have the most lined faces -- like her mother and sculptress Louise Bourgeois. I fell in love with all women, more than ever before, from being with these images. They reminded me of the beauty in the fundamental connection we all have to women, and women have to the fundamentals of life. As Susan Sontag points out, "Such a book . . . is also about women's attractiveness." "Forever young, forever good-looking, forever sexy -- beauty is still a construction, a transformation, a masquerade." Only occasionally will you see an image of traditional concepts of beauty. The rest as avatars of what beauty may well come to mean for our children. As you can tell from the quotes I have used, Susan Sontag's essay is a wonderful conversation with the images that helps the reader appreciate their potential. "It is for us to decide what to make of these pictures. After all, a photograph is not an opinion. Or is it?" Clearly, Ms. Leibovitz is expressing opinions with these photographs, but the viewer may often perceive them like a Rorschach test, with the response reflecting more about the viewer than about the image. One of the most interesting sequences involves three so-called "show-girls" who perform in Nevada casinos. You see them first as ordinary women with tiredness and care lines. Next, they are revealed in their painted, plumed performing personas. You have to look twice, and then a third time, to realize that these are the same women. How more eloquently can you say that conventional concepts of beauty are only skin deep? Or in this case, appearance is only as deep as the cosmetics and costumes used. Other photographs are revealing in other ways, some almost like a peep show. These are designed to show the reality behind the image, just as the Nevada women's pictures do. For example, you'll see famous ex-models and actresses in very unglamorous, but important women's roles, such as Jeri Hall nursing her baby. But above all, these women are vibrantly alive. One of my favorites is an underground shot of women in a coal mine with other miners. The women's faces positively glow with energy. You can see the intelligence, the commitment, and the courage they each have. In this sense, the book is about all humanity, not only women. After you have finished with viewing the photographs and considering the essay, I suggest that you think about your own life, whether you are a woman or a man. What is intelligent, committed, and courageous about what you are or do? How could you be even more so? How could you transfer that vision to another person? How would photographs or an essay help? Take a look, and see what you think!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, moving photos that tell a story
Review: This was the first time I bought a book of photos and I was not disappointed. I was lucky enough to be part of a book signing event by Annie Leibovotz which makes this book even more special to me. Each photo tells a moving story of the person pictured and I find myself puliing this book out often just to remind myself who I am. Every woman can identify with at least one of the photos, if not all of them. I recommend this book to women everywhere as a reminder of who we are and how far we have come over the years.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I was stunned by the images in this book. I was most profoundly move by the photos of coal miners, the Supreme Court Justices, the battered women, and the before/after shots of the Las Vegas show girls. Strong, striking, compelling. I have been giving this book to all my women friends and relatives as gifts. All of the images are moving, some tinged with sarcasm, some with sorrow. Leibovitz captures all aspects of women's lives: power maker, helpless victim; glamour queen, aged crone; scientist, show girl. Simply amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring!
Review: I eagerly anticipated the arrival of this book and was heartily pleased with its content. Susan Sontag's essay is stirring and a perfect preface to Annie Leibovitz's fierce and delicate photos. It has directed me to think about the women in my life who have given me so much inspiration and strength. I am sending copies to both my mother and mother-in-law for Mother's Day in honor of the love and unbending support they have both shown me throughout our relationships. As a woman who has never "fit the mold" this book shows me that I am not alone, but rather a member of an incredible and diverse sex!
Rating:
Summary: A book every woman should own.
Review: As a photographer I've been following Leibovitz's work for years. I've read all of her Rolling Stone books, I have her book on Olympic Athletes and always look for her work on the cover of Vanity Fair. This is her tightest collection yet. You can tell how attached she is to her subjects from the First Lady to women on a farm, to activists in San Francisco to movie stars. Her passion for women is outstanding and clear in her work. I feel each image and feel that connection despite the extreme difference in backgrounds and lifestyles. An absolute must for every woman.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: Annie Leibovitz has created a compelling work that showcases women in all of their dimensions, not just in flat pictures of beauty. Some of the images are haunting; some are disturbing, some are glamorous, some are awe-inspiring. Every one is worthwhile, even the ones that are harsh. Overall, this is an excellent portrayal of women and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A surprise treat
Review: I was browsing through a bookstore, waiting for my kids to get done with Boy Scouts, not looking for anything in particular, when I spied "Women" on a shelf near an easy chair. The plain cover of this large book intrigued me so I started to skim through the book. After about a minute, I sat down and spent 45 more minutes going through the book, page by page. I had never heard of the book and only vaguely know the authors from popular culture, but I'm hooked now. As a busy working mother I don't usually have the time to spend enjoying fine art, photography, or coffee table books. I have to say that this is an inspiring piece of work that had me so engaged in some of the photos that I conjured up my own life stories for these women in my mind and thought about what their real life is like, how to meet them, etc. Annie's photographs really spoke to me. I heartily recommend this book -- it's food for the soul. I only regret that I paid so much for the book that night (I had to give it to my best friend the next day).
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