Rating: 
Summary: A ton of misery
Review: A ton of horrifying pictures, with a few ounces of noble and beautifu
Rating: 
Summary: Troubling but momentous, just like the 20th century
Review: As many others have said, this book is full of upsetting images. Any faithful retrospective of the 20th century should be. Also documented here are great moments in science, the arts, philanthropy... all from a perspective that is (a) judgmental but fair and (b) resoundingly British. The most remarkable aspect of this book, though, is the rediscovery of lost or obscure images: history you remember from high school or popular culture, but never knew to be caputred on camera. A young Indian lawyer sitting in front of his storefront offices, with M.K. GANDHI, ATTY. stencilled on the window. Darrow and Bryan sitting together like pals, at the Scopes trial. The Beatles -- John, Paul, George and Pete (Ringo's forgotten predecessor). The Lusitania steaming along with no hint of its eventual place in history. The contraptions with which Rutherford discovered the structure of the atom. This is a rare and special look at history caught in the act of itself.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the banalities of other picture books, this is it.
Review: For a unique historical perspective, never have I viewed a finer book. "Century" prints the pictures we haven't seen 100 times before. And it does so in context. Difficult to put down. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the banalities of other picture books, this is it.
Review: For a unique historical perspective, never have I viewed a finer book. "Century" prints the pictures we haven't seen 100 times before. And it does so in context. Difficult to put down. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Best Photography Book I Have Ever Read
Review: Glancing through once is usually enough for most photo books. Not for this one. It is because what this book reveals is not just the image, the outer appearance, but the soul, the hidden driving force for all the tragedies and joys of human life.
As readers will find out, in this book the dark side of the human soul is disclosed much more than the bright side. This is why some people do not feel comfortable about it. However, more than one hundred million people were killed by the same species over the last century, which absolutely deserves our thought and memory. If there is anything can be benefited from the great sufferings, it is that seeing them can recall our conscience and concern for our fellow people's well being.
Shortly before his death, editor Bruce Bernard wrote in the Preface that "I hope that this book... will encourage younger people to dispise as well as hate and fear war and violence and any kind of exploitation or persecution of man or woman by woman or man". I salute to him for his wonderful gift to us.
The book quoted Woody Allen's words in 1980: "More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." I hope this becomes a true joke because there has been, and will be people on this planet like Bruce Bernard.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding by any measure
Review: I came across this book by accident, and after reviewing it in the bookstore, I had to have it. I've just spent three hours engrossed in the photographs, and felt I had to include my review to those already posted. I was amazed at the low price (I paid $50), and consider it easily worth three times the amount I paid.The book is extremely well produced, with a boxed cover, great printing, and excellent paper quality. The photos are all extremely well printed. The book includes a great deal of non-photographical information. There are several pages of quotes for each era, from politicians, artists, writers and scientists. Each photographic section is followed by a section with further information on every photo, describing the event or person in more historic detail. The photos are not the typical ones that have been seen again and again, which greatly adds to the book's value. There are many that show world events from a unique perspective. Some are supremely beautiful - even the ghastly ones. Although the great majority depict war and violence, they are not at all gratuitous, and I think they help to portray the never-ending human struggle for power and freedom. Like most good photojournalism, it can be disturbing and even depressing, but always thought-provoking. My only real complaints are that the book deals mostly with war, there are numerous typographical errors, and the occasional content error (as was mentioned with the use of "universe" instead of "galaxy." I intend to buy several copies of this book and send them as gifts to my friends. Even at $50, it's a "must-buy."
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful gift - to yourself!
Review: I found this book at a museum shop when I was looking for something for my mother, who was born at the beginning of the century. It seemed like the perfect gift, paralleling her life. I expected to see some of the classic photographs that we know so well - Hitler dancing at the news that Paris was burning, the Spanish Civil War soldier at the moment of death, Dorothea Lange's classic of the Dust Bowl mother... To my great surprise, not one of those was included in the book. I was a little disappointed at first, but then realized that because all the pictures are unfamiliar, and in some cases, depict events we may not have considered newsworthy, this book forces you to turn each page. You can't skip over the images because each one carries information, either in the picture or in the description, that may be new. This is NOT a collection of "the best of LIFE," and, as much as I loved that magazine in its heyday, I'm glad. The book is organized in what some may consider a quirky way, with wildly divergent images juxtaposed. But there's method in this madness, and as you page through it, you start to see the theme emerge. The pictures are on blank pages, with no writing at all. The explanations are grouped separately for each section. At first I was frustrated at having to page back and forth between the image and the description, but I quickly came to appreciate the visual impact of a picture - nothing else - on an otherwise blank page. This is a powerful book, in the images that were included, in the information they convey, and in the care and thoughtfulness that it demands from the "reader." I strongly recommend this book as a serious gift to someone you care about - or yourself. (Mom, by the way, loved it, but complained that it took up all her spare time for weeks, as she paged through it and studied each image carefully. When she died, I reclaimed it from her house and find myself doing the same thing.)
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful gift - to yourself!
Review: I found this book at a museum shop when I was looking for something for my mother, who was born at the beginning of the century. It seemed like the perfect gift, paralleling her life. I expected to see some of the classic photographs that we know so well - Hitler dancing at the news that Paris was burning, the Spanish Civil War soldier at the moment of death, Dorothea Lange's classic of the Dust Bowl mother... To my great surprise, not one of those was included in the book. I was a little disappointed at first, but then realized that because all the pictures are unfamiliar, and in some cases, depict events we may not have considered newsworthy, this book forces you to turn each page. You can't skip over the images because each one carries information, either in the picture or in the description, that may be new. This is NOT a collection of "the best of LIFE," and, as much as I loved that magazine in its heyday, I'm glad. The book is organized in what some may consider a quirky way, with wildly divergent images juxtaposed. But there's method in this madness, and as you page through it, you start to see the theme emerge. The pictures are on blank pages, with no writing at all. The explanations are grouped separately for each section. At first I was frustrated at having to page back and forth between the image and the description, but I quickly came to appreciate the visual impact of a picture - nothing else - on an otherwise blank page. This is a powerful book, in the images that were included, in the information they convey, and in the care and thoughtfulness that it demands from the "reader." I strongly recommend this book as a serious gift to someone you care about - or yourself. (Mom, by the way, loved it, but complained that it took up all her spare time for weeks, as she paged through it and studied each image carefully. When she died, I reclaimed it from her house and find myself doing the same thing.)
Rating:
Summary: The only coffee table book you'll ever need
Review: I just saw this last night at a friends house and could not wait to get online and get one for myself. AMAZING pictures. This has to be one of the largest books I have ever seen. I would've expected this book to cost $100+. Can't wait to get my own!
Rating:
Summary: Pictures more powerful than words
Review: I'm amazed to read people commenting that this book is too focused on the struggles of humanity--I rather think it's important to record our darkest hours so that we might learn from them. Nothing could accomplish this more powerfully than the images contained in this masterful book. I paged through Century with my mouth agape. These incredible pictures made me feel a connection to history I had never felt before. I plan to keep this book around as an important historical reference. When my children ask me what WW II was all about, rather than give them some rambling sermon, I'll pull out this book. If a picture is worth a thousand words than this book is worth about one million.
|
