The Family of Man

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Summary: The Family of Man is more of an experience than a book.
Review: When I was a child, I stumbled on this book, The Family of Man. I read it cover to cover. I wondered at the pictures of human interaction I barely understood, such as men and women falling in love. I smiled at the photographs that I recognized myself in; children playing and laughing, even fighting. I grew angry when I saw a girl who looked a lot like me fighting back against a bully that looked remarkably like a boy I had to contend with at school. I cried at the pictures that frightened or saddened me. The first time I saw the picture of the SS soldier making eye contact with the child who was marching with her parents and neighbors to the Nazi death camps, I didn't know the history it was depicting. I was later to learn my own relatives were part of that dark history. The picture made me uneasy. I came back to the book year after year. Each time understanding it more. Each time I brought more life experience to the book, I got more from it. But right from the first I got it's powerful message: we are all part of one family ...the human family. It probably was the book with the most profound influence on my life. I am happily surprised that they are reissuing it and I can now give my children a copy that isn't falling apart from 40 years of being loved too much.

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Summary: The Human Condition in the Global Village
Review: While vacationing in Germany we decided to take a daytrip to Luxembourg. The collection of these photos were kept in a castle on a hill there. We spent 2 hours walking through the exhibit staring at each of them. We learned a life's lesson in one afternoon about similarity and difference. No matter how different all the cultures in our world seem to be, they all have several things that are common to each and that is joy and sorrow. This is an important addition for collectors as well as "arm chair" sociologists because it's about your family - the Family of Man.