Book Description
It was 1943. In Yosemite National Park, the magnificent Ahwahnee Hotel closed its doors to tourists, transformed into a temporary Naval convalescent hospital. Wartime shortages forced the rationing of gasoline, sugar, and film. Living with his wife, Virginia Best Adams and their children in Yosemite Valley, Ansel Adams, sought ways to help with the war effort. Too old to enlist, he volunteered for for a number of assignments in which his photographic skills were put to the countryÕs use. Among his contributions, he both escorted and photographed Army troops at Yosemite training for mountain warfare in Europe; he taught photography to the Signal Corps at Fort Ord, and traveled to the Presidio in San Francisco to print classified photographs of Japanese military installations on the Aleutian Islands. Despite his volunteer efforts, he was frustrated that he could not do more to help the war effort.
That summer, friend Ralph Merritt asked Adams if he would be interested in creating a photographic record of a little-known government facility in the Owens Valley, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. ÒI cannot pay you a cent,Ó Merritt told Adams, Òbut I can put you up and feed you.Ó Merritt was director of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, a collection of hundreds of tar-paper barracks hastily built to house more than 10,000 people, behind barbed wire and gun towers. All were of Japanese Ancestry, but most were American citizens, forcibly removed from their homes to ten relocation centers across the country by presidential order. The resulting effort was the book Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese Americans published by U.S. Camera in 1944 under the direction of the War Relocation Authority.
While at Manzanar, Adams met Toyo Miyatake, the official camp photographer, interned with his wife and children. A student of the great photographer, Edward Weston, Miyatake had established his own respected professional photography studio in Los Angeles before the war. In the introduction to this book, MiyatakeÕs son, Archie, who was then 16-years old, recalls the visit made so long ago.
In 1965, Adams wrote in a letter to Dr. Edgar Brietenbach at the Library of Congress: Ò . . . I think this Manzanar Collection is an important historical document and I trust it can be put to good use. . . Ó With the goal of realizing that Ògood use,Ó Spotted Dog Press presents Born Free and Equal to new generations of Americans who may come to a better understanding of a distant incident in our recent history that should not be forgotten.
Customer Reviews:
informative and elegant.......2007-05-20
I have read quite a few books and articles about the unfortuante/sad/?criminal Japanese-American experience during WW II. This book, although it does not add to the historical record per se, includes rich, wonderful pictures from Ansel Adams that bring more visual support to ones' images of how terrible the situation was, but also how strong and resourceful the Japanese-American people were and hopefully still are (just look up the Japanese word "gaman")
A powerful, highly recommended, historically factual book.......2002-05-06
Born Free And Equal: The Story Of Loyal Japanese Americans is an impressive combination of historic photographs and writings about the Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned in Manzanar, one of ten such relocation camps, as a result of wartime fears regarding possible sabotage by members of the Japanese and Nisei (American-born men and women of Japanese ancestry) living along the American west coast. During the era of World War II, virtually all the American people of Japanese descent in the states of California, Oregon and Washington (most of them citizens), were interned in relocation camps scattered through the Midwest. Born Free And Equal captures memories of this prison community and how the families in it lived in broad, sweeping, black-and-white photographs. Born Free And Equal is a powerful, highly recommended, historically factual book, accurately capturing with poetic realism a dark and controversial aspect of America's WW II effort, which, along with such horrors as the European Holocaust and the Japanese atrocities in the Far East, must never be forgotten.
A fascinating look at this historical tragedy.......2002-03-07
In the autumn of 1943, the eminently talented photographer Ansel Adams traveled to the Relocation Center at Manzanar, California. This was one of the camps where the United States government relocated (some would say "imprisoned") the many people of Japanese descent who lived in the western, Military Zone 1, so that they could not assist Imperial Japan in its war against the United States. Among the many people sent to this camp were men, women, children and the elderly; immigrants from Japan, the children (born in the U.S.) of Japanese immigrants, and the those even farther removed from Japan; not to mention a decorated veteran of the Spanish-American War (Seaman 1st Class Harry Sumida of the U.S.S. Indiana).
It was here that Ansel Adams set up his camera, and put a human face on this tragedy. This is his book; the pictures he took, and the text he wrote. Originally published in 1944, this newer edition (published in 2001) contains all of the original photos, several additional photos that Mr. Adams took but didn't include in the original, and several fascinating introductions written by Japanese-Americans.
Considering the topic of this book is something of a cause celebre, one might imagine that this book was something of an anti-American screed. Well, if you thought that, you would be wrong. This book is a very balanced look at what happened, and the people who were caught up in it. Mr. Adams wanted the book to be factual, so both the good aspects and bad aspects are covered. That said, though, the book was something of an expose of what happened, and is not a whitewash. Therefore, if you are looking for a book that will tell you about this historical tragedy, then I highly recommend this book.
A magnificent work!.......2002-01-17
Finally, I was able to pick up a copy of this long-awaited book. The original is extremely expensive to pick up, and with the additional introductory information, this is an improvement. A fascinating read, fantastic print quality... A must have!
Book Description
Censored by the U.S. Army, Dorothea Lange's unseen photographs are the extraordinary photographic record of the Japanese American internment saga.
This indelible work of visual and social history confirms Dorothea Lange's stature as one of the twentieth century's greatest American photographers. Presenting 119 images originally censored by the U.S. Army—the majority of which have never been published—Impounded evokes the horror of a community uprooted in the early 1940s and the stark reality of the internment camps. With poignancy and sage insight, nationally known historians Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro illuminate the saga of Japanese American internment: from life before Executive Order 9066 to the abrupt roundups and the marginal existence in the bleak, sandswept camps. In the tradition of Roman Vishniac's A Vanished World, Impounded, with the immediacy of its photographs, tells the story of the thousands of lives unalterably shattered by racial hatred brought on by the passions of war. 104 photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Great photography and history.......2007-01-12
Outstanding description and photographs documenting the terrible injustice done to American citizens and residents solely because of their Japanese ancestry throughout the Second World War. The indecencies suffered by these people can barely be described adequately, but this book attempts to further illustrate the horrors that can be inflicted on an ethnic group if racism is allowed to influence government policy, as it did in this country during that war.
Text, yes. Photographs, no.......2007-01-10
These important photographs taking during WW2 in the Japanese internment camps scattered around the American west are almost unreadble. The are reproduced very small, and without the requisite skill to make deteriorated images look half decent on the printed page.
The text is informative, especially about Dorothea Lange's trials in gaining access to the camps in California.
Impounded: Important Photography of the Internment and American History.......2007-01-08
Dorothea Lange's photographs document an important American event that is still unknown to a large number of Americans. The fact that the government impounded the photographs speaks for itself.
Heartbreaking images of a shameful past........2006-11-06
Although the text is informative in telling the history of Japanese internment during World War II, the images speak for themselves, page after page in stark black and white, the young and innocent, the old and careworn, carrying rope-bound suitcases and cardboard boxes, standing in long lines, waiting to be processed by indifferent jailors, an entire race herded into the camps that will be home for the war years, disenfranchising them of investment in community and the pride of being Americans. As history has proven over and over, fear is a monster that cannot be contained once the public is infected, the vulnerable a source of suspicion, marked by the color of their skin and the shape of their eyes.
Whole families gather in these telling photographs, leaving treasured belongings behind, grandparents to infants, all swept up in an infamous display of mistrust in a country suddenly driven to panic by a surprise attack, demanding a quick response from their government. Lange has a particular talent for capturing the very human face of the internment camps, children with ID tags attached to their coats, chain link fences topped with barbed wire circling the arid landscape, family laundry hanging from a window, the barren rows of housing units assailed by constant dust storms, women working on camouflage nets for the War Department.
Famous for her Depression era photos of migrant farm workers, this series of photographs, while ordered by the US Government, were censored for the duration of the war. The most striking feature of the collection is the very American look of these people, standing proud while saluting the flag, teenagers trying to act cool in spite of their surroundings, family gatherings that are familiar Americana. It is also important to mention that, in spite of the extreme measures undertaken, "no Japanese-American was ever found guilty of espionage". Lange's work is enhanced by the two essays that precede the collection of photographs, Linda Gordon's biographical essay on Lange's life and work and Gary Okihiro's "An American Story", outlining Japanese immigration to America and the history of Japanese internment, with personal anecdotes by detainees. This is a moving portrait of a country's response to threat, reminding us to value the precious tenets of freedom. Luan Gaines/2006.
Customer Reviews:
WOW.......2002-06-26
As a person from the northeast (staten island new york to be exact) I was never interested in fishing or it's culture. But upon reading and veiwing this book I was amazed. I thought fishing was a redneck back woods thing, but Mr. Olander's paintings show life and show diversity and opened a new door up for me. WOW! My personal favorite is on page 32, of the tripletail, again WOW!
a western perspective on a japanese technique.......2001-10-01
A beautiful book. I picked up this book out of curiosity and was impressed by the quality of the prints themselves. It made me want to go out and print some fish myself. My only complaint is that I wanted to see some more detailed writing on technique, though his comentary (on each print) in terms of the different breeds and catching of the fish involved was entertaining and disarmingly free of pretentions.
nicely laid out book.......2001-05-05
Olander's book exhibits excellent promotion and hype, not skilled fish prints. Although he uses color fairly well, the technical aspects of his printing leave a bit to be desired, and design elements are lacking. It's a shame that this book is used as an example of fine printing, when it is not at all. For some excellent and stunning fish prints, check out the website of the Fish Print Factory in Japan. Although these are done in the indirect method vice Olander's direct, there is an exemplary use of color, shading, tones, balance, and design.
A Showcase for a Beautiful Art Form!.......2000-07-06
Doug's talents leave me speechless and dewey-eyed with awe. Not only did I become so enthralled that I am trying to take up gyotaku myself, but I simply HAD to own one of his paintings - and now I do! After trying this art form myself, I am even more humbled by his incredible talents; he truly brings these beautiful fish back to life in front of my eyes! I loved the book; it is a frequent source of inspiration for me!
lots of gorgeous prints, very little technical info.......2000-02-29
If you are looking for technical information regarding gyotaku, this book will not help you much at all. In that case, you will be much better served by considering Bethmann's "Nature Printing with Herbs, Fruits & Flowers" which has a small gyotaku section. If you are looking for examples of artistic presentation of gyotaku prints, this book provides 53 color plates of fish prints done by the author. That's not what I was looking for (sigh).
Average customer rating:
- Beautiful and interesting book
- Simply stunning
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The History of Japanese Photography (Museum of Fine Arts)
Anne Tucker
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death
ASIN: 0300099258 |
Amazon.com
Except for the rare international superstar like Araki Nobuyoshi, known for his gamy shots of nude young women, Japanese photography is a closed book to Westerners. Yet it has a distinguished and vital tradition that has enriched every genre, from portraits to landscapes, with a unique blend of lyricism and candor. In The History of Japanese Photography, a wealth of captivating images and essays by seven scholars trace 140 years of stylistic and cultural evolution. In 1857 a local ruler had his portrait taken with a daguerreotype set brought to Nagasaki by a foreign ship. Eleven years later, official photographs of the emperor--never glimpsed in person by his subjects—became widely available. Photographers were increasingly called upon to document new Japanese territories, natural disasters, and wars. Visitors hankered after studio shots of geishas and other exotica. Beginning in the 1890s, upper-class amateur photographers contributed a new emphasis on aesthetics. In the 1930s exquisite Pictorialist images of natural beauty gave way to modernist influences from Berlin and Moscow, and then—in wartime—to a conservative emphasis on traditional rural life. Individual expression dominated postwar photography, as seen in such images as Tomatsu Shomei's haunting "Beer bottle after the atomic bomb explosion." Recent work reflects the dislocations of urban consumer society. Beautifully produced, with 356 color illustrations, this groundbreaking volume accompanies an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (March 2-April 27, 2003) that travels to the Cleveland Museum of Art (May 18-July 27, 2003). —Cathy Curtis
Book Description
: Over the past 150 years, Japanese photographers have created an impressive body of work that ranges from dignified imperial photographs to sweeping urban panoramas, from early ethereal landscapes to modern urban mysteries. Despite the richness, significance, and variety of this work, however, it has largely been neglected in Western histories of photography. This gorgeous and groundbreaking book—the first comprehensive account of Japanese photography from its inception in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day—reveals to English-speaking audiences the importance and beauty of this art form. Written by a team of distinguished Japanese and Western scholars, this book establishes that photography began to play a vital role in Japanese culture soon after its introduction to Japan in the 1850s. Illustrated essays discuss the medium's evolution and aesthetic shifts in relation to the nation's historical and cultural developments; the interaction of Japanese photographers with Western photographers; the link between photography and other Japanese art forms; and photography as a record and catalyst of change. Handsomely designed and generously illustrated with beautiful duotone and color images, the book emphasizes not only the unique features of Japanese photography but also the ways it has influenced and been influenced by the country's culture and society.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful and interesting book.......2006-11-02
I must say that this book is beautiful and I hightly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Japanese photography. I have started reading it and the writing is refreshingly lucid and informative while the photographic reproductions are impressive. At times, the authors do presuppose a knowledge of Western photographic history that may be daunting for some readers. If you are not familiar with that history you may not find the arguments or explanations as productive or interesting as they are. However, even if you are a unfamiliar with the history and you are just curious about the topic, this book has a lot to offer if you just skim the essays. The more academic-minded readers will find the essays to be critically and historically illuminating, intriguing, and thought-provoking. Plus the book is so beautiful.
Simply stunning.......2003-04-03
This is one of the finest photography books I've seen recently. Filled with page after page of gorgeous photographs spanning a range of over one hundred years, from rare vintage images to fascinating contemporary work, this volume tells the story of a vastly understudied area of artistic work. Everything about this volume--its design, its production, its content--does beautiful justice to the subject matter. Finally--a worthy book on Japanese photography!!!
Book Description
An exquisite presentation of unique sketchbooks by the great Japanese master Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858). While Hiroshige's splendid woodblock prints, in particular his Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road, are among the most widely reproduced and best-loved prints in Japanese history, his sketches have rarely been circulated or seen. The sketchbooks date from around 1840 and were created as Hiroshige traveled around Japan. They contain subject matter that ranges from serene landscape and rural scenes to delightful renderings of interiors, historical figures, and animals. The colors are fresh, the renderings fluid, and the use of space astonishing, allowing a sort of fantasy not always possible in the harder lines of woodblock printing. Most importantly, these drawings are of enormous charm to the eye; even those unacquainted with Japanese art will find them an enchanting example of Japanese color, design and subject matter. This one-volume edition has been printed in Japan to ensure the highest quality in reproducing the nuances of Hiroshige's masterpieces, which are reproduced to size and in their original order. 100 pages of color illustrations, 50 black-and-white illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Quiet and beautiful.......2007-09-13
Once you've been captivated by the beauty of Japanese prints, you will surely want to know more about the people and times that created them. This book offers a unique glimpse at the creative process, in the form of fifty watercolor and ink sketches.
The authors have chosen an unusual but comfortable format: sections of the book are printed alternately on white and buff paper. The first section, in white, introduces the collection - a donation to the U.S. Library of Congress. Next, fifty two-page spreads on buff paper present the sketches themselves. If you can't lay hands on Hiroshige's original sketchbooks, this is the next best thing. Toned paper imitates the aging of Hiroshige's sketchpad, now well past 150 years old. It also creates a correct impression of how the ink and colors actually appear, set against that background color. Since the original drawings each spanned the fold of a two-page spread, the reproductions do too - with the book's actual fold in the same place as the original's. Another section of white paper with black printing follows. Each page reproduces one of the drawings, reduced and without color, to remind the reader of what that page's discussion refers to. A second sketchbook follows, on buff paper, and its commentary, in black and white. As you may guess, these high production values carry over into the printing itself - beautiful, delicate, and detailed, so that every nuance of line and shading exposes itself to study.
Although helpful, the book's commentary does little more than state the location of a scene or the myth from which an image is drawn. I don't mind that minimalism. The picture draw my eye so forcefuly that it's hard to pay attention to the text. This has my highest recommendation to anyone who loves Japanese prints, or Japanese art in general.
-- wiredweird
Book Description
In 1942, The United States government declared 110,000 American Japanese residents a threat to national security and incarcerated them in eleven relocation camps around the country. One such camp, Manzanar, was located near Lone Pine in the Owens Valley, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Four photographers — Ansel Adams, Clem Albers, Dorothea Lange, and Toyo Miyatake — photographed Manzanar and its residents at various times throughout its three year existence. Their photographs tell the story of Manzanar from four different perspectives. Taken together, they offer a glimpse of the elusive truth of the relocation camps — a cautionary and poignant tale of pain, injustice, and the triumph of the human spirit.
Introduction by Archie Miyatake
Essay by Gerald H. Robinson
Portfolio of Photographs by Ansel Adams, Clem Albers, Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyatake
111 pages
60 halftone illustrations
Notes, Bibliography, and Index
Customer Reviews:
An unvarnished, candid, accurate portrayal.......2002-12-08
Compiled by Gerald H. Robinson, Elusive Truth: Four Photographers At Manzanar is a strikingly impressive collection of historical photographs taken of the Manzanar relocation camp, one of several set up by the United States government in 1942 when it forcibly imprisoned a population of 110,000 Japanese-Americans citizens and Japanese residents for three years. The poignant text combines with meaningful images of daily life as it features the photographic talents of Ansel Adams, Clem Albers, Dorothea Lange, and Toyo Miyatake, and presents an unvarnished, candid, accurate portrayal. Highly recommended.
Book Description
Shogun Warriors. Godaikin. Micronauts. They came in their legions, leaping straight from Japanese TV sets onto toy shelves. Shiny, outrageously colorful, sporting spring-powered missiles and "rocket punches" they were unlike anything seen before. Super #1 Robot showcases these unique action figures created during the heyday of Japanese robot toys, 1972 to 1982. From Popy's classic "Chogokin" Mazinger Z to Takatoku's Valkyrie (the first seamlessly transforming toy), these are the pinnacle of modern Japanese robot toys, and transformed not only themselves, but also today's toy culture.
Book Description
With talented young Japanese players signing to the American Majors, interest in Japanese baseball is at an all-time high. Sayonara Home Run! introduces curious fans to Japan's national pastime through the lens of the country's playfully beautiful baseball cards. A fascinating text traces the roots and cross-cultural history of the Japanese game, while hundreds of illustrations showcase gorgeous vintage cards. Woven throughout are profiles of key Japanese players, features on important U.S. team tours of Japan (with Japanese cards of players such as Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio), and insights into the social history of the cards. Including primers on Japanese player nicknames and baseball terms, and the fine points of the Japanese game, Sayonara Home Run! is a must-have for anyone interested in baseball, Japan, or this unique chapter in popular design.
Customer Reviews:
Will attract any with an interest in world baseball or in collectible ballgame cards .......2006-05-20
This could've been featured in our collector's section or even our sports section, but is presented here for its powerful artistic survey of Japanese sports through its lovely baseball card art. SAYONARA HOME RUN! THE ART OF THE JAPANESE BASEBALL CARD features player history, card art, and loved and hated baseball teams alike. It will attract any with an interest in world baseball or in collectible ballgame cards - and many a browser with an interest in neither!
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch
Will attract any with an interest in world baseball or in collectible ballgame cards .......2006-05-20
This could've been featured in our collector's section or even our sports section, but is presented here for its powerful artistic survey of Japanese sports through its lovely baseball card art. SAYONARA HOME RUN! THE ART OF THE JAPANESE BASEBALL CARD features player history, card art, and loved and hated baseball teams alike. It will attract any with an interest in world baseball or in collectible ballgame cards - and many a browser with an interest in neither!
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch
A Beautiful and Informative Book.......2006-04-20
Vinatge Japanese baseball cards are among the most beautiful baseball collectibles in the world. I discovered these treasures over ten years ago during a trip to Japan and became an avid collector. My passion for the cards eventually led to a on-line card business and a career as a baseball writer. John Gall and Gary Engel's new book Sayanara Homerun! depicts hundreds, if not thousands, of theese beautiful cards. The book's presentation is wonderful. Cards are gracefully portrayed as art but the accompanying text will statisfy both baseball card collectors and fans of Japanese baseball.
If you are an American baseball cards collector, come see what you are missing. If you a fan of Japanese baseball, come see great pictures of your favorite stars.
I spend hours paging through this book and expect that you will enjoy it as much as I have.
Book Description
In September 1945 Joe O'Donnell was a twenty-three-year-old Marine Corps photographer wading ashore in Japan, then under American occupation. His orders were to document the aftermath of U.S. bombing raids in Japanese cities, including not only Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also cities such as Sasebo, one of the more than sixty Japanese cities firebombed before the atomic blasts. "The people I met," he now recalls, "the suffering I witnessed, and the scenes of incredible devastation taken by my camera caused me to question every belief I had previously held about my so-called enemies."
In addition to the official photographs he turned over to his superiors, O'Donnell recorded some three hundred images for himself, but following his discharge from the Marines he could not bear to look at them. He put the negatives in a trunk that remained unopened until 1989, when he finally felt compelled to confront once more what he had he had seen through his lens during his seven months in postwar Japan.
Now, for this remarkable book, seventy-four of these photographs have been assembled. The images of destruction—a panorama of Ground Zero at Nagasaki, a lone building still standing near the Aioi Bridge at Hiroshima, a fourteen-year-old burn victim lying in a coma—are, of course, wrenching beyond words. But the book includes hopeful images as well, and these are equally affecting—children playing on a road, young girls carrying their infant siblings on their backs as they go about everyday routines, geishas performing a traditional dance, Marine boots mingled with Japanese sandals outside a church entrance.
Exhibited in Europe and Japan during the 1990s, O'Donnell's photographs were first published in book form in a 1995 Japanese edition. This edition, the first to appear in the United States, includes an additional twenty photographs and will bring O'Donnell's eloquent testament to the horrors of war to an even wider audience.
Customer Reviews:
Revealing Photographic History.......2006-09-15
Joe O'Donnell captured the aftermath of World War II with his photographic record of the Japanese rubble. As a 23 year-old US Marine, O'Donnell served as a photographer, and a sample of the photographs he took are included in his book, JAPAN 1945: A US MARINE'S PHOTOGRAPHS FROM GROUND ZERO. The collection is a visual snapshot of the Japanese landscape of the cities and towns, Sasebo, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, almost a month after the atomic bombings and air raids.
Indeed, JAPAN 1945 includes poignant and moving exposures of remnants of the worn torn landscape. The book is a composition of photographs of O'Donnell's seventh month long tour of the Japanese cities in which he documented what was left of the cities -- pure destruction without a living thing in sight. There are numerous shots worth mentioning, such as the boy and his young brother on the cover of the book, the boy served as O'Donnell's guide through the streets of Hiroshima, as well a man severely burned, "Victim with Rope" who is covered with an immense amount of clothing in order to protect his skin. However, there are also photographs depicting reconstruction, such as the shot where a teacher leads a class with the classroom still intact despite the outside view of the devastating rubble that lurks in the background.
JAPAN 1945 is an excellent photographic record of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. O'Donnell's account of what he had seen has been best described not with words, but with the photographs he presents. The book may further provide a better understanding of World War II history as well as how photographs provide a template to how history is interpreted.
A Striking, Yet Poignant View of the Atomic Bombings.......2005-08-18
Photographer Joe O'Donnell, a 23-year-old Marine assigned to the occupation of Japan, has released many of his photographs that he took while on station. Locked away for some 45 years, these vivid, graphic, and moving photos show what life was like immediately after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
O'Donnell's photo archive begins with images from his arrival in Japan. A prayer service offered aboard a landing ship, and the unloading of equipment are shown in this section. The harbor at Sasebo is photographed with many American ships filling its waters, but it is in this section where the reader gets their first glimpse of the level of destruction wrought by American planes; most of the surrounding city is literally flattened. Many displaced Japanese citizens are shown wandering the streets of what has become a barren wasteland.
O'Donnell has also included images of American soldiers giving candy to Japanese children, and Japanese geishas performing dances. Images of children with babies strapped to their backs cleaning rubble and elderly displaced civilians with few or no possessions really touch the reader.
The most eye-catching part of the book for me was the images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both cities were literally wiped off the face of the earth; only massive piles of rubble remained. O'Donnell had to travel by horse to navigate through the massive piles of debris. Images of people wandering about aimlessly, smashed factories, and burn victims dominate this part of the book.
The most piognant pictures I saw in the book are the one of the three brothers in Nagasaki; the eldest pushing his brothers in a make-shift cart, and the most heartbreaking one, the photo of the child who has come to the cremation site in Nagasaki with his dead baby brother strapped to his back, all the while struggling to keep from crying. I can't remember seeing a more moving photograph.
This is a tremendous book. Each photograph tells its own story, and O'Donnell has provided excellent narrative above each photo. I highly recommend this fine book. Open it up and take a photographic journey through a defeated Japan. Some photos will inspire awe; others pity, and you'll get a true sense of what it was like in Japan immediately after the war ended.
Very moving.......2005-04-24
Could it be that we see a photo of an 8 or 9 year old boy bringing the body of his dead baby brother to a site in Nagasaki for cremation? Could it be that this photo was taken by a 23 year old American Marine? Would it be possible that the Marine was mistaken, perhaps he misunderstood? Perhaps the baby is only sleeping. Alas, the older brother's face belies the truth as the baby's body hangs lifeless. Marine photographer Joe O'Donnell was obviously moved by many of the photos he took during his time in Japan, just after the war ended.
But it's not just bombed out cities that he shares with us. There are happier times when American GI's were talking to children, geisha and hotel maids and other slices of Japanese life that would interest most any foreigner (or perhaps today's Japanese even). We can only wonder how many other photos he has that are have not been published.
I think Japanese history is at its most interesting when it interacts (or collides) with other countries. O'Donnell shares with us images of a Japan that no longer is. Perhaps Japan never has publicly atoned for its war time actions sufficiently; but this book shows clearly that it certainly was punished sufficiently.
Striking Photos of the Aftermath of War.......2005-03-12
We've all seen the pictures of Hiroshima where everything but the shells of a few building is flattened. Here are seventy-four pictures from several cities, fire-bombed with conventional munitions, not atomic bombs, that look just as devastated, just as destroyed.
But more than that are pictures of the people. There's a picture of the crowd at an Athletic Day - women, children, and old men - the young men are gone, probably never to return. There's a picture of a young boy, perhaps eight years old. To his back is strapped his little brother, perhaps one year old. The little brother is dead and the boy is delivering him to the cremation site.
Yes the pictures from other wars, the child at the railway station after the rape of Nanking, those from the camps in Germany are equally tragic. Even the pictures showing Charleston after Sherman's army went through show this kind of destruction.
But there is a special feeling I get from these pictures. Perhaps it comes as a residual of the racial hatred this country felt towards Japan. I hope not, but the fact is that these striking photographs make me feel terrible.
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Japanese Painting (Treasures of Asia)
Rizzoli
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Binding: Paperback
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History of Japanese Art
ASIN: 0847801322
Release Date: 1990-01-15 |
Books:
- Botanica's Orchids: Over 1200 Species (Botanica's Gardening Series) (Botanica's Gardening)
- Chameleon Chameleon (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards))
- Creative Black & White Photography
- Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
- Deep South
- Digital Nature Photography Closeup
- Digital Nature Photography Closeup
- Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies
- Digital Sports Photography
- Dirk Bones and the Mystery of the Haunted House (I Can Read Book 1)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- African American Childhoods: Historical Perspectives from Slavery to Civil Rights
- The Masque of the Black Tulip
- Teen Titans Vol. 3: Beast Boys and Girls
- Tartans: Abbotsford to Fraser
- The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Uni
- Students Solutions Manual for Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives, Sixth Edition
- The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and Philosophy of Right
- Art and Social Theory: Sociological Arguments in Aesthetics
- Simon & Schuster's Pocket Guide to Wilderness Medicine
- Biographical Sketches of the Commissioned Officers of the Confederate States Marine Corps
Elusive Truth: Four Photographers at Manzanar
Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment
Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience
Remembering Manzanar: Life in a Japanese Relocation Camp
The Art of Gaman: Arts & Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946
