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Summary: An Important Collection
Review: "Car Crashes" is an extremely important book. It is collection of photos taken by an amateur photographer in the `30's and 40's. The pictures are graphic displays of what happens in violent automobile deaths and the damage they inflict. This book should NOT be viewed as an aberration or an object of morbid titillation. Death is what all we as humans have in common. "Car Crashes" should be viewed as a work, like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' "On Death And Dying", that brings one closer to the acceptance of one's own mortality and that death is not a subject that should be shunned.
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Summary: The Photo-Journalist of Death ¿ Mell Kilpatrick
Review: An incredible and utterly unique historical document, Car Crashes & Other Sad Stories contains selections from the photographic archive of Mell Kilpatrick, a Southern California news photographer who relentlessly pursued his profession during the 40s and 50s. Capturing images of automobile collisions, Kilpatrick was an obsessive witness to the effects of the post-war explosion of car culture in California. Through his lens, he viewed and recorded the often-fatal combination of speed, technology and reckless abandon and created a body of work that Weegee himself might have made if the West coast instead of the East had been his beat. Locked away in his Anaheim studio since his death in 1963, Kilpatrick's work might have remained lost in obscurity if photography collector and dealer Jennifer Dumas had not stumbled upon his treasure trove of 5,000 negatives and brought them to light. Although Kilpatrick chronicled many more "stories" than car crashes, it is the roadside images that dominated his career. This collection is an unsparing archive of human tragedy, unveiling tableau after tableau of infinitely varied disaster. Seemingly fragile shells of cars collapsed or upended, corpses trapped in the twisted wreckage, stoic cops and laughing bystanders; each dealing in their own way with the reality of sudden tragedy. It is this combination of the shock of the moment of impact and the ordinary setting in which it takes place that makes Mell Kilpatrick's work a fascinating photographic experience. More than just a historical record of a bygone American era, these pictures cause us to "rubberneck" with guilty fascination.
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Summary: Show it to your teenagers.
Review: Before my stepdaughter went off to her first driving class, I showed her this book. I think it made an impression. Makes you think about the responsibilty and risks you assume when you get behind the wheel.
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Summary: Show it to your teenagers.
Review: Before my stepdaughter went off to her first driving class, I showed her this book. I think it made an impression. Makes you think about the responsibilty and risks you assume when you get behind the wheel.
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Summary: Sickening Photos of Deceased
Review: I first read this book at the Virgin Records Megastore in Orlando. My reaction? It made me so entirely sick, I wanted to throw up. The photos in this book are horrid, sickening, and utterly disgusting. This is something you'd never imagine happening in the early motoring era, and what makes the photos worse, they're all black & white toned. If blood makes you sick, stay away from this book.
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Summary: Should Be Required Reading for Cell Phone Drivers
Review: I first thumbed through this book in a Barnes and Noble bookstore over two years ago and couldn't get a couple of the images out of my mind since. I wanted to own the book from that time but was literally afraid of it. I had a superstition that it would bring me bad luck if I had it. That's how powerful and macabre these pictures are. But I recently got up the courage to make the purchase, relying on my Film Noir sensibility as rationalization. This book is a testament of the pre-seat belt / pre-airbag days when even a relatively low speed crash could be deadly with drivers routinely impaled on rigid steering columns. It's hard to imaging all those people back then riding around unrestrained with only their only their good-luck as a safety device. Not that traffic deaths aren't still a reality in today's cars: A copy of this book should be supplied with every cell phone as a reminder of how serious a responsibility driving is and just how sudden and deadly a car crash can be.
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Summary: Haunted and Disturbed by the Faces I Saw
Review: I saw a copy of this book in a local bookstore and was intrigued by what it could contain. As an adult, I was shocked that a book like this could be on display within easy reach of children and sensitive adults alike. I am not squeamish and was quite capable of looking at the bloodied scenes with the bodies strewn doll-like in various poses, blood pouring from their mouths and pooling beside their bodies. A morbid fascination made me look at the rest of the pictures, much as we would look at an accident scene as we pass by to see if anyone was killed. These are not pictures showing the corpses face down and in the distance - there are many close-up shots of almost distinguishable faces. I'm not sure I see the art in these pictures, and I also question the necessity to show such graphic detail of people in their last moments. These photos were taken for insurance companies and to record the accident for highway patrol. The Publisher's review states "Locked away in his Anaheim studio since his death in 1963, Kilpatrick's work might have remained lost in obscurity if photography collector and dealer Jennifer Dumas had not stumbled upon his treasure trove of 5,000 negatives and brought them to light. " To me this says that Kilpatrick never intended these images to be used in this way and that perhaps they should have remained hidden? There is no honor in death and these people and their families suffered in an immense way that we can only hope we will never experience. I tend to feel that perhaps this book was published more for its shock value. It should have a warning on its cover and in its review and it should be sold sealed in plastic. There is a reason that television doesn't show pictures like this to the public - where graphic scenes are shown, they are preceded by a warning to sensitive viewers. The book's only saving grace is the black-and-white format that makes the pictures matter-of-fact and slightly less gruesome. Buyers, be sure to look closely at the pictures that Amazon provides as a view of what is inside this book before buying - this book is about death and how it happened. I am haunted and disturbed by the faces I saw and will not easily forget them. I was reminded of how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away from you. Personally, I would give this book 1 star to indicate my disturbed reaction to its subject matter. But objectively, it is exactly what it says it is - car crashes and other sad stories. I could not give it 5, or even 4, stars because the "author" and publisher neglected their civic duty to put a warning on the cover or in the title. I also question what sort of person would want to own a copy of a book like this.
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Summary: Forensics gives it a +
Review: I was waiting for my flight leaving Las Vegas and entered a Borders. I was searching through the store and found this book for $2.99. When I started looking at it I realized that all the accidents were from my area, Orange County California, I thought that was neat. I actually bought the book for the pictures. I am a criminal justice major and a lot of these pictures are very good forensic photos for the time. It is very educational to look at them so you can pic out the flaws of the investigations, and also the positive points of the investigation.
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Summary: Deadly traffic.
Review: I would agree with another reviewer who said the black and white format makes these photos matter-of-fact and less gruesome. With over two hundred pictures in the book, between sixty and seventy show bodies, the rest are autos in various states of demolition caused by accidents. The flimsiness of the Detroit's product is evident in photo after photo, page 126 shows a car door, seperated from the rest of the vehicle and three-quarters wrapped round a telegraph pole. There are several car/train accident photos and the trains seem to have no damage at all, the cars are crumpled like paper. As these photos were primarily statements of record for insurance companies and the police Kilpatrick worked out the best exposure and camera angle and stuck to it, so the book reflects his style, if it was a collection of accident photos by many photographers it would not be so interesting. This is one man's professional work in the forties and fifties in southern California. The landscape all-black format of the book helps the photos stand out but I have yet to work out the meaning of the small graphic item at the bottom of each page. Tachen are to be applauded in publishing a book of photos (clearly not to everyones taste) that normally would not be seen.
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Summary: Interesting, but nothing extremely entertaining.
Review: It was interesting to look at the photos in this book. However it wasn't as good as many of the other photo books out there that a person could buy. I would recommend that a person go to the bookstore and look at it while there. That way you could look at a book that is interesting, but not good enough to buy. I'll give it a straight down the middle 3 stars. Some people will think less, others more.
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