Do or Die

Rating:
Summary: Review of "Do or Die"
Review: This is an excellent book of photographs from a very interesting and talented woman. Martine Barrat is origionally from France but travelled to America when she was around twenty(?) to dance in New York. After a stage accident left her ankle broken she was forced to change her lifestyle and became good friends with the black population of Harlem. Eventually she became interested in the South Bronx because it was supposed to be the worst of the worst. This is a book of photographs of boxers from this area. They start around age six, and the last shot is of one who is over seventy, happily retired. It is their channel to escape the ghetto, to fight their way out. The photos document the conditions in which they live but show the peoples hope and love inspite of these hardships. Martin Scorsese is also quite fond of the book, he wrote the introduction. Recommended for anyone interested in the plight of Americas inner cities, boxing (Muhammad Ali was also quite fond of the images), or simply fighting your way out.