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Rating: 
Summary: A noble authority.
Review: I found this a fascinating visual record of the TVA and its work over the relevant years, 1933 to 1963. Patricia Ezzell, the TVA's historian, has selected 135 one-per-page photographs from more than twenty thousand in the archives and they really do reflect the wide range of activities the Authority was involved in, dam and reservoir building, power generation, fertilizer production, reforestation, mapping and surveying, flood control and more. The book is divided into three sections, Depression Era, War Effort and Growth and Change. Although social photographer Lewis Hine was hired for a month in 1933 and contributed 197 photos in that time the majority of photos in the book are by Charles Krutch. He took thousands and it is the range of subject matter that makes the book so interesting to me. As well as the obvious technical shots of dam construction Krutch also photographed temporary house building for construction workers, village and small town life, recreation centers, farming and folks relaxing in their homes enjoying the benefits of cheap TVA electricity. The photos in the last section, Growth and Change (basically from 1945 to 1963) are devoted to the everyday. The TVA was by then established and you can see photos of transmission lines, aerial shots of large corporate plants, increased freight traffic on the Tennessee River, school visits to farms and even the contestants of the Miss Guntersville Lake Beauty Pageant. All thanks to the vision of the Roosevelt government years earlier. The book is well printed and designed and the author writes a brief introduction to the TVA. The back includes a useful bibliography and index. My only criticism is that the map on page seven is woefully inadequate, the excellent captions with each photo mention places that I wanted to find out where they were but couldn't, I ended up using the TVA's interactive map on their website. Apart from the map this is a wonderful book about a huge endeavour that really made a difference to so many people.
Rating:
Summary: A noble authority.
Review: I found this a fascinating visual record of the TVA and its work over the relevant years, 1933 to 1963. Patricia Ezzell, the TVA's historian, has selected 135 one-per-page photographs from more than twenty thousand in the archives and they really do reflect the wide range of activities the Authority was involved in, dam and reservoir building, power generation, fertilizer production, reforestation, mapping and surveying, flood control and more. The book is divided into three sections, Depression Era, War Effort and Growth and Change. Although social photographer Lewis Hine was hired for a month in 1933 and contributed 197 photos in that time the majority of photos in the book are by Charles Krutch. He took thousands and it is the range of subject matter that makes the book so interesting to me. As well as the obvious technical shots of dam construction Krutch also photographed temporary house building for construction workers, village and small town life, recreation centers, farming and folks relaxing in their homes enjoying the benefits of cheap TVA electricity. The photos in the last section, Growth and Change (basically from 1945 to 1963) are devoted to the everyday. The TVA was by then established and you can see photos of transmission lines, aerial shots of large corporate plants, increased freight traffic on the Tennessee River, school visits to farms and even the contestants of the Miss Guntersville Lake Beauty Pageant. All thanks to the vision of the Roosevelt government years earlier. The book is well printed and designed and the author writes a brief introduction to the TVA. The back includes a useful bibliography and index. My only criticism is that the map on page seven is woefully inadequate, the excellent captions with each photo mention places that I wanted to find out where they were but couldn't, I ended up using the TVA's interactive map on their website. Apart from the map this is a wonderful book about a huge endeavour that really made a difference to so many people.
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