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Our America: A Photographic History
From one of our most treasured filmmakers, a pictorial history of America--a stunning and moving collection of some of Ken Burns's favorite photographs, with an introduction by Burns, and an essay by longtime MoMA photography curator Sarah Hermanson Meister
Burns has been making documentaries about American history for more than four decades, using images to vividly re-create our struggles and successes as a nation and a people. As much as anyone alive today, he understands the soul of our country.
In Our America, Burns has assembled the images that, for him, best embody nearly two hundred years of the American experiment, taken by some of our most reknowned photographers and by others who worked in obscurity. We see America's vast natural beauty as well as its dynamic cities and communities. There are striking images of war and civil conflict, and of communities drawing together across lines of race and class. Our greatest leaders appear alongside regular folks living their everyday lives. The photos talk to one another across boundaries and decades and, taken together, they capture the impossibly rich and diverse perspectives and places that comprise the American experience.
Burns has been making documentaries about American history for more than four decades, using images to vividly re-create our struggles and successes as a nation and a people. As much as anyone alive today, he understands the soul of our country.
In Our America, Burns has assembled the images that, for him, best embody nearly two hundred years of the American experiment, taken by some of our most reknowned photographers and by others who worked in obscurity. We see America's vast natural beauty as well as its dynamic cities and communities. There are striking images of war and civil conflict, and of communities drawing together across lines of race and class. Our greatest leaders appear alongside regular folks living their everyday lives. The photos talk to one another across boundaries and decades and, taken together, they capture the impossibly rich and diverse perspectives and places that comprise the American experience.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2022
About the author
Ken Burns
87 books118 followersKenneth Lauren Burns is an American filmmaker, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in documentary films. His widely known documentary series include The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Prohibition, The Roosevelts, and The Vietnam War.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
April 23, 2023
"It is beyond cliched to say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but perhaps today - with their ever-increasing number and lack of attention at the time of their taking - the value of a photograph has been diminished. Maybe it's worth only five hundred words . . . or maybe not even one hundred. We have tried here to return something like full value to these images." -- from the introduction by Ken Burns
Documentarian Ken Burns - known since the early 1990's for his abundance of Americana-themed programs like The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, and The National Parks airing on public television - takes a shot at the still life with his Our America: A Photographic History, an assemblage of hundreds of U.S. prints taken between 1839 (!) and 2014. Really, the only thing negative I can say about the book is the arrangement - the photographs (all black and white, either because of the time period or, much later on, more for the stylish factor) are each given full page treatment with its year and location, but a reader has to continually flip to the final seventy pages for a three- or four-paragraph recounting or explanation. Otherwise, this is one excellent collection featuring work by a number of known quantities like Matthew Brady, Margaret Bourke-White, Ansel Adams, Gordon Parks, and Richard Avedon, plus many more. Some of my favorites included a whopping THREE distinct shots of the Dodgers baseball club (Duke Snider, Don Newcombe, and Carl Furillo in a Schaefer Beer-soaked locker room celebration of their '55 World Series victory; a seasoned Jackie Robinson rounding the bases during his tenth and final year with the team; and pitching ace Sandy Koufax in concentration mode while on the mound in a game against the Phillies), a squad of deputy marshals escorting the six year-old Ruby Bridges into her elementary school (which later inspired a painting by Norman Rockwell) in 1961, advisor Robert Kennedy conferring with elder brother John during the start of his 1960 presidential campaign, a young and practically cherubic-looking Johnny Cash straightening his necktie backstage before a concert in 1959, and a charmingly candid snapshot of Richard and Mildred Loving, the persecuted and prosecuted couple responsible for obliterating Virginia's interracial marriage ban in 1967. That's just the tip of the iceberg - war, nature, civil rights, and entertainment, among other diverse selections, are in focus throughout this outstanding gallery.
Documentarian Ken Burns - known since the early 1990's for his abundance of Americana-themed programs like The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, and The National Parks airing on public television - takes a shot at the still life with his Our America: A Photographic History, an assemblage of hundreds of U.S. prints taken between 1839 (!) and 2014. Really, the only thing negative I can say about the book is the arrangement - the photographs (all black and white, either because of the time period or, much later on, more for the stylish factor) are each given full page treatment with its year and location, but a reader has to continually flip to the final seventy pages for a three- or four-paragraph recounting or explanation. Otherwise, this is one excellent collection featuring work by a number of known quantities like Matthew Brady, Margaret Bourke-White, Ansel Adams, Gordon Parks, and Richard Avedon, plus many more. Some of my favorites included a whopping THREE distinct shots of the Dodgers baseball club (Duke Snider, Don Newcombe, and Carl Furillo in a Schaefer Beer-soaked locker room celebration of their '55 World Series victory; a seasoned Jackie Robinson rounding the bases during his tenth and final year with the team; and pitching ace Sandy Koufax in concentration mode while on the mound in a game against the Phillies), a squad of deputy marshals escorting the six year-old Ruby Bridges into her elementary school (which later inspired a painting by Norman Rockwell) in 1961, advisor Robert Kennedy conferring with elder brother John during the start of his 1960 presidential campaign, a young and practically cherubic-looking Johnny Cash straightening his necktie backstage before a concert in 1959, and a charmingly candid snapshot of Richard and Mildred Loving, the persecuted and prosecuted couple responsible for obliterating Virginia's interracial marriage ban in 1967. That's just the tip of the iceberg - war, nature, civil rights, and entertainment, among other diverse selections, are in focus throughout this outstanding gallery.
March 8, 2023
This lovely photography book with pictures chosen by the esteemed Ken Burns is a gem. The black and white pictures document America from the birth of the photograph to our modern day (1839-2019). The location and date of the photo were shared, but if you want to know more, you have to flip to the back to find a thumbnail of the picture and a description of the picture or era. This made the pictures speak for themselves. All the pictures were evocative- with some tragic while others were hopeful. The pictures that Burns choose will take you full circle, and you might end up doing further research about the subject matter shown.
My favorites:
1855- Salt Lake City. A man poses with his three wives and children. The third and youngest wife looks scared.
1862- Pennsylvania. An outdoor picnic with a lovely belle- I wondered about how the Civil War would affect everyone there.
1863- Gettysburg battlefield filled with dead soldiers.
1884- Carlisle School. Heartbreaking picture of hundreds of Native American children taken from their families and forced to attend this soul-crushing boarding school.
1888- Dakota Territories. Women quilting together, who found community despite their new isolated homesteads.
1900- North Carolina. Sharecroppers who were still enduring back-breaking labor.
1913- Washington. A logging train crossing a rickety trestle bridge.
1916- Washington DC. Two solemn Black women attending a former slave convention.
1917- Colorado prairie. A woman gazes into the faraway distance.
1930s- South Carolina. Gullah baptism. Many traditions were able to live on in this region.
1935- California. A migrant family stopped for a break. Does a better future await them?
1938/1940-Delaware/NYC. City boys stare back at the camera with bravado- made me think of my older father who was a boy during that time frame.
1949-NYC. The dignified child from the front cover of the book.
1955-New Orleans. A segregated trolley.
1959- Kentucky. Girls play along a dusty road in the mountains.
1959- Texas. Johnny Cash, who is one of my favored singers of all time.
1960-Georgia. A woman is being slapped in a training session of the SNCC to prepare them for what they will endure at future sit-ins.
1964-Mississippi. A brave Black woman heads into a courthouse to register to vote. Who knows what discrimination she will face in doing so?
1970- Illinois. A forest path wanders through Palentine, a town I have been to numerous times. Does it still exist?
1976- North Carolina. An older gentleman from Appalachia sits on his bed with his homemade musical instruments. We are now in the "modern-day" but he looks like someone you might see in a photo from a hundred+ years ago.
1996- Connecticut. A Native American man in full regalia rests during a Pow Wow.
1998- Mississippi. A former plantation sits in ruins.
My favorites:
1855- Salt Lake City. A man poses with his three wives and children. The third and youngest wife looks scared.
1862- Pennsylvania. An outdoor picnic with a lovely belle- I wondered about how the Civil War would affect everyone there.
1863- Gettysburg battlefield filled with dead soldiers.
1884- Carlisle School. Heartbreaking picture of hundreds of Native American children taken from their families and forced to attend this soul-crushing boarding school.
1888- Dakota Territories. Women quilting together, who found community despite their new isolated homesteads.
1900- North Carolina. Sharecroppers who were still enduring back-breaking labor.
1913- Washington. A logging train crossing a rickety trestle bridge.
1916- Washington DC. Two solemn Black women attending a former slave convention.
1917- Colorado prairie. A woman gazes into the faraway distance.
1930s- South Carolina. Gullah baptism. Many traditions were able to live on in this region.
1935- California. A migrant family stopped for a break. Does a better future await them?
1938/1940-Delaware/NYC. City boys stare back at the camera with bravado- made me think of my older father who was a boy during that time frame.
1949-NYC. The dignified child from the front cover of the book.
1955-New Orleans. A segregated trolley.
1959- Kentucky. Girls play along a dusty road in the mountains.
1959- Texas. Johnny Cash, who is one of my favored singers of all time.
1960-Georgia. A woman is being slapped in a training session of the SNCC to prepare them for what they will endure at future sit-ins.
1964-Mississippi. A brave Black woman heads into a courthouse to register to vote. Who knows what discrimination she will face in doing so?
1970- Illinois. A forest path wanders through Palentine, a town I have been to numerous times. Does it still exist?
1976- North Carolina. An older gentleman from Appalachia sits on his bed with his homemade musical instruments. We are now in the "modern-day" but he looks like someone you might see in a photo from a hundred+ years ago.
1996- Connecticut. A Native American man in full regalia rests during a Pow Wow.
1998- Mississippi. A former plantation sits in ruins.
March 13, 2023
Stellar collection of photos chronicling the history of our country starting when cameras were invented and became available. The photos are stunning and the written explanations/background put the photos in perspective. This is a book to take in slowly so the reader feels the complete impact.
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August 5, 2022Not a Burns guy but this is fine.
August 22, 2023
This (dare I say) coffee book is comprised of such incredible and historic photographs from the past 150 years or so. I found myself thinking of all the history told in this book, information left out any high school history book I ever read. Details that really explain the events as they truly were. I loved this book. It got me researching and it broke my heart as so many pictures are very raw.
The one thing that I would have preferred is for the illustration notes to be on the opposite page instead of the back of the book.
The front cover is titled "Boy On The Street" 1949 by Jerome Liebling
I love this photo. I noticed his shirt with the images of hockey players on it and it wasn't lost on me that at this time in history, this child had no players to look up to that resembled him.
This quote from Liebling best sums up this book for me:
There are no superiors, I think we are all about the same.
But there certainly are advantages in life-money, who writes the history and who says who's good.
The rich control the history. So, I suppose I'm saying these people are valuable. You have to look again.
The one thing that I would have preferred is for the illustration notes to be on the opposite page instead of the back of the book.
The front cover is titled "Boy On The Street" 1949 by Jerome Liebling
I love this photo. I noticed his shirt with the images of hockey players on it and it wasn't lost on me that at this time in history, this child had no players to look up to that resembled him.
This quote from Liebling best sums up this book for me:
There are no superiors, I think we are all about the same.
But there certainly are advantages in life-money, who writes the history and who says who's good.
The rich control the history. So, I suppose I'm saying these people are valuable. You have to look again.
February 21, 2023
I haven’t savored each page and word of a book like this in a long time. Truly one of my favorite reading experiences ever. So much joy reading this, while also so much sorrow and sadness. I kept thinking of the book The Body Keeps the Score - our body, our country keeps the score of our legacy of trauma.
February 10, 2023
This book contains full-page, stunning black-and-white photographs spanning moments in American history from the mid-nineteenth century to the twenty-first.
Ken Burns curated these moving photographs to tell a story: pivotal historical events, evocative scenes, and beautiful and ugly points in history. Some photographs are of the famous (Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Kennedy Onassis), others show gorgeous scenery of the American west, and still others show the country's dark side (lynchings, child labor). We see the bread lines of the Great Depression and the notorious White Sox baseball players. We see crowds clamoring for berths on ships heading up to the Klondike during the gold rush and women marching for the right to vote. Every photo tells a long story.
In the back of the book, you'll find explanations of each photograph. I love this decision. First view the photos on their own, letting their emotional impact have full rein. Later, go back and learn about each one. The book also contains an interesting forward.
This book is in my personal collection.
Ken Burns curated these moving photographs to tell a story: pivotal historical events, evocative scenes, and beautiful and ugly points in history. Some photographs are of the famous (Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Kennedy Onassis), others show gorgeous scenery of the American west, and still others show the country's dark side (lynchings, child labor). We see the bread lines of the Great Depression and the notorious White Sox baseball players. We see crowds clamoring for berths on ships heading up to the Klondike during the gold rush and women marching for the right to vote. Every photo tells a long story.
In the back of the book, you'll find explanations of each photograph. I love this decision. First view the photos on their own, letting their emotional impact have full rein. Later, go back and learn about each one. The book also contains an interesting forward.
This book is in my personal collection.
December 9, 2022
A beautiful photography book that takes us on a visual journey through the United States from 1839 to 2020. Burns takes Walker Evans’s
American Photographs
as his model and gives us one large image on each page with simply a location and year as the caption. It allows each image to speak to the reader. We can immerse ourselves in the moment, try to feel the atmosphere, hear the voices, and touch the textures. In the back, each image is presented again in thumbnail, with extensive notes detailing the historical context, for readers who want to gain knowledge of the background for each.
Many of these images are quite famous. Some are obscure. Most document major historical moments, so we can guess the circumstances just from the location and year. Burns draws from all 50 states. My one criticism – briefly hinted at in the Introduction – is that the book focuses on certain eras, leaving only 15 photographs for the last 50 years. And the ones chosen for our era do not at all give us the strong sense of place and history found throughout the rest of the book. I almost wish Burns had stopped in 1969 since the few images that come later just feel slapped on to bring us to the present, except perhaps for the last photo of the book – John Lewis in 2020 – which is quite relevant and ends on a high note.
I also enjoyed the Introduction, which provided a list of other photo books that influenced this one, and are now on my to-read list. This would easily be a five-star book if Burns had documented the last 50 years as well as he had the first 100-plus. Still, a worthy read. And thanks to my local library for having a copy, since I couldn’t afford this book otherwise. I have already placed some other books on hold that are mentioned in this book's Introduction.
Many of these images are quite famous. Some are obscure. Most document major historical moments, so we can guess the circumstances just from the location and year. Burns draws from all 50 states. My one criticism – briefly hinted at in the Introduction – is that the book focuses on certain eras, leaving only 15 photographs for the last 50 years. And the ones chosen for our era do not at all give us the strong sense of place and history found throughout the rest of the book. I almost wish Burns had stopped in 1969 since the few images that come later just feel slapped on to bring us to the present, except perhaps for the last photo of the book – John Lewis in 2020 – which is quite relevant and ends on a high note.
I also enjoyed the Introduction, which provided a list of other photo books that influenced this one, and are now on my to-read list. This would easily be a five-star book if Burns had documented the last 50 years as well as he had the first 100-plus. Still, a worthy read. And thanks to my local library for having a copy, since I couldn’t afford this book otherwise. I have already placed some other books on hold that are mentioned in this book's Introduction.
December 12, 2022
I liked that the explanations were in the back of the book.
January 8, 2023
Although an interesting book - I LOVED all of the black & white photographs - I do wish that the information about each photograph would have accompanied the actual photo, instead of having a separate addendum at the back of the book that provided a thumbnail of each photo, the title of the photo, photographer (when known), along with a brief history about the photo.
Photos are arranged chronologically, beginning with American Photographer, Robert Cornelius' self-portrait in Philadelphia, PA in 1839, and continuing through 2019. There is an Introduction by Ken Burns, himself, as well as an essay by Sarah Hermanson Meister. Also, interestingly, there seems to be more photos earlier in history than now.
The photos are of a wide variety and not only illustrate defining moments of our history, but also sometimes show activities, people, and places. These truly are snapshots (pun intended) of specific times in our history.
For each photo, we see a large photograph, along with the place and year the photo was taken. Because I did not discover the illustration notes until after I had studied all of the photographs, I actually used my smartphone and took pics in Google to identify people / events in many of the photos.
Photographs that made an impact on this reader:
Henry David Thoreau, Worcester, MA, 1856
Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 1861
Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL, 1865
Monticello (like you've never seen it), Albemarle County, Virginia, 1870
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Territory, 1884
Statue of Liberty (as she's rarely been seen), Bedloe's Island, New York, 1885 - It wasn't renamed Liberty Island until 1956
Ulysses S. Grant, shortly before his death, Mt. McGregor, Wilton, NY, 1885
Iao Valley, Maui, Hawaii. 1890 (I've been here!)
Tuskegee, AL, 1890's
Chief Red Cloud (Oglala-Lakota (Sioux)), Chadron, NE, 1891
Muir Glacier, Alaska, 1891
Picking Cotton, Charlotte, NC, 1900
Arnold Short Bull, Omaha, NE, 1900
Susan B. Anthony, Washington, D.C., 1900
Kitty Hawk, NC, 1902
Cliff House (WOW!), San Francisco, CA, early 1900's
Ellis Island, New York, 1905
Great Earthquake, San Francisco, CA, 1906
Standing Rock Reservation, ND, 1908
Penn Station, New York City, 1910
Votes for Women, Baltimore, MD, 1912
50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, PA, 1913
Woman and Child, Lincoln, NE, 1915
Charlie Chaplin (as you've never seen him), Hollywood, CA, 1916
Bryce Canyon National Monument, Utah, 1926
Henry Ford & Thomas Edison, West Orange, NJ, 1927
Kimball, WV, 1935
Marian Anderson, American Contralto, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1939
The "construction" of Mount Rushmore (interesting viewpoint), South Dakota, 1939
Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig, New York City, 1939
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1941
A Relocation Center, step towards Japanese Internment Camps, Centerville, CA, 1942 - More can be learned about this topic in the book, Facing the Mountain.
Boys Playing Soldiers, Mansfield, OH, 1942
Race Riot in Detroit, MI, 1942
Graham R. Jackson, Sr, American Pianist, playing accordion, Warm Springs, GA, 1945
Harlan County, KY, 1946
A young Louis Armstrong, New York City, 1947
Separate water fountains, North Carolina, 1950
Monks, Atchison, Kansas, 1955
Jackie Robinson, #42, He broke the color barrier in baseball, New York City, 1956
Vicco, KY, 1959
Johnny Cash (as you've never seen him), adjusting his tie, in San Antonio, TX, 1959
A shocking photo of what appears to be a man slapping a woman in Atlanta, GA in 1960. Upon further research, I discovered that this is a photo of a "Behind the Scenes" look at Civil Rights' Activists training to endure the harassment & violence they would face.
Pemaquid Point, Maine, 1960
Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabar, New York City, 1963
Bob Dylan, Greenwood, MS, 1963
Jackie Kennedy, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, 1963
Sandy Koufax, Philadelphia, PA, 1964
Glen Canyon, Utah, 1964
Coretta Scott King, in mourning, Memphis, TN, 1968
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1969
Woodstock (I can't remember EVER seeing this photo!), Bethel, NY, 1969
Construction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, New York City, 1971
Construction of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and its Architect, Maya Lin, Washington, D.C., 1982
Cannon Beach, Oregon, 1982
Antelope Canyon, AZ, 1998
Bowling Ball Beach, CA, 2005
Friendship, Wisconsin, 2008
Congressman John Lewis, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., 2019
The photos that I singled out made an impression on me and are only the tip of the iceberg for all of the photos in this book. Having said this, as I mentioned above, more could have been shown from let's say, the last 40-45 years. Some topics that could have been included, but weren't for whatever reason(s): Kent State Shootings, Energy Crisis, Three-Mile Island (PA), Watergate, Feminist Movement, NASA and the Space Program, Sandra Day O'Connor, 1st Woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter - agree or disagree, but if the purpose of this book is to illustrate U.S. History on U.S. Soil, then all of this is also a part of our photographic history.
Still, a beautiful book for what IS presented!
Photos are arranged chronologically, beginning with American Photographer, Robert Cornelius' self-portrait in Philadelphia, PA in 1839, and continuing through 2019. There is an Introduction by Ken Burns, himself, as well as an essay by Sarah Hermanson Meister. Also, interestingly, there seems to be more photos earlier in history than now.
The photos are of a wide variety and not only illustrate defining moments of our history, but also sometimes show activities, people, and places. These truly are snapshots (pun intended) of specific times in our history.
For each photo, we see a large photograph, along with the place and year the photo was taken. Because I did not discover the illustration notes until after I had studied all of the photographs, I actually used my smartphone and took pics in Google to identify people / events in many of the photos.
Photographs that made an impact on this reader:
Henry David Thoreau, Worcester, MA, 1856
Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 1861
Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL, 1865
Monticello (like you've never seen it), Albemarle County, Virginia, 1870
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Territory, 1884
Statue of Liberty (as she's rarely been seen), Bedloe's Island, New York, 1885 - It wasn't renamed Liberty Island until 1956
Ulysses S. Grant, shortly before his death, Mt. McGregor, Wilton, NY, 1885
Iao Valley, Maui, Hawaii. 1890 (I've been here!)
Tuskegee, AL, 1890's
Chief Red Cloud (Oglala-Lakota (Sioux)), Chadron, NE, 1891
Muir Glacier, Alaska, 1891
Picking Cotton, Charlotte, NC, 1900
Arnold Short Bull, Omaha, NE, 1900
Susan B. Anthony, Washington, D.C., 1900
Kitty Hawk, NC, 1902
Cliff House (WOW!), San Francisco, CA, early 1900's
Ellis Island, New York, 1905
Great Earthquake, San Francisco, CA, 1906
Standing Rock Reservation, ND, 1908
Penn Station, New York City, 1910
Votes for Women, Baltimore, MD, 1912
50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, PA, 1913
Woman and Child, Lincoln, NE, 1915
Charlie Chaplin (as you've never seen him), Hollywood, CA, 1916
Bryce Canyon National Monument, Utah, 1926
Henry Ford & Thomas Edison, West Orange, NJ, 1927
Kimball, WV, 1935
Marian Anderson, American Contralto, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1939
The "construction" of Mount Rushmore (interesting viewpoint), South Dakota, 1939
Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig, New York City, 1939
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1941
A Relocation Center, step towards Japanese Internment Camps, Centerville, CA, 1942 - More can be learned about this topic in the book, Facing the Mountain.
Boys Playing Soldiers, Mansfield, OH, 1942
Race Riot in Detroit, MI, 1942
Graham R. Jackson, Sr, American Pianist, playing accordion, Warm Springs, GA, 1945
Harlan County, KY, 1946
A young Louis Armstrong, New York City, 1947
Separate water fountains, North Carolina, 1950
Monks, Atchison, Kansas, 1955
Jackie Robinson, #42, He broke the color barrier in baseball, New York City, 1956
Vicco, KY, 1959
Johnny Cash (as you've never seen him), adjusting his tie, in San Antonio, TX, 1959
A shocking photo of what appears to be a man slapping a woman in Atlanta, GA in 1960. Upon further research, I discovered that this is a photo of a "Behind the Scenes" look at Civil Rights' Activists training to endure the harassment & violence they would face.
Pemaquid Point, Maine, 1960
Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabar, New York City, 1963
Bob Dylan, Greenwood, MS, 1963
Jackie Kennedy, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, 1963
Sandy Koufax, Philadelphia, PA, 1964
Glen Canyon, Utah, 1964
Coretta Scott King, in mourning, Memphis, TN, 1968
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1969
Woodstock (I can't remember EVER seeing this photo!), Bethel, NY, 1969
Construction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, New York City, 1971
Construction of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and its Architect, Maya Lin, Washington, D.C., 1982
Cannon Beach, Oregon, 1982
Antelope Canyon, AZ, 1998
Bowling Ball Beach, CA, 2005
Friendship, Wisconsin, 2008
Congressman John Lewis, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., 2019
The photos that I singled out made an impression on me and are only the tip of the iceberg for all of the photos in this book. Having said this, as I mentioned above, more could have been shown from let's say, the last 40-45 years. Some topics that could have been included, but weren't for whatever reason(s): Kent State Shootings, Energy Crisis, Three-Mile Island (PA), Watergate, Feminist Movement, NASA and the Space Program, Sandra Day O'Connor, 1st Woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter - agree or disagree, but if the purpose of this book is to illustrate U.S. History on U.S. Soil, then all of this is also a part of our photographic history.
Still, a beautiful book for what IS presented!
April 23, 2024
Five stars for the photos + one star for the text, captions, and overall structure equals a three-star rating. Right off the bat, it quickly became cumbersome to flip back and forth between the photos (main section of the book) and the captions (indexed next to thumbnails of the images in the back). Ken Burns explained why he did this in his introductory essay, and while I get it (short version: he wants the reader/viewer to come to each photo as a blank slate), maneuvering this large and heavy coffee table book is tedious. Sadly, Ken Burns seems to have fallen prey to the modern trend of wanting to tell his readers how to feel about things, which is immediately off-putting and made me feel manipulated instead of informed and enlightened. In his effort to advance his (tired, predictable, lefty) point of view, in the "captions" he often dispenses with describing the actual photos altogether. The New Mexican wedding party - we don't learn a thing about the actual family in the photo as he is too busy lamenting the outcome of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Alley baseball - 150 words about child labor. The John Barleycorn tombstone - not one word about who John Barleycorn was or what he represented (I had to google it - I didn't know it was a temperance thing). The delightful gals in At the Beach - a dreary disquisition on the oppression women suffered by having to wear heavy bathing costumes. The construction of Mount Rushmore - don't forget it's on land stolen from the Sioux! I mean, jeeze dude. The photos are beautiful, haunting, artistic, epic, joyful, human, and very American; most of the captions are pinched, hectoring, bleak, joyless, and contrived. So maybe it's actually a good thing that the text is separate from the photographs, after all. Just look and enjoy, but don't bother reading.
August 20, 2023
Was excited at first, then severely disappointed. I was excited to see the growth of America throughout the years. While America does have some dark history, it’s a beacon of freedom for so many other countries in this world. This book didn’t seem to capture that. A decent majority of these pictures involved slavery, racism, war, poverty, and anti-American sentiments. There were very few pictures that invoke a sense of patriotism. Where’s the picture of the VE Day parades in New York City? They probably ran out of room in the book because they covered the race riots of the civil rights movement in too much detail. Very disappointed.
April 22, 2023
The photographs were beautiful, but I wish that the short descriptive paragraphs about each one weren't at the very back of the book, which forced you to keep flipping back and forth. The descriptions also focused mainly on the life story of the photographers who took each individual photo, when I would have preferred information about what was happening in the photo.
December 31, 2022
Oh what a good long look I took and a good fit of crying. Thank you Ken Burns and team for putting this amazing collection together ❤️
March 11, 2023
I always like watching Ken Burns's documentaries and as soon as I saw this book at my library I knew I had to take it home with me. It's a must read. Some of the photos are very well know but others not so much. The descriptions of them in the back are fascinating to read.
November 16, 2022
In this beautiful book, we simply get photographs of times long past, times that many of us did not live in, and images of a different world than we live in now. The photographs chosen in this book are beautiful and tell stories about the times they occurred in, as well as the people and objects featured in them. My only remorse about this book was that there wasn't more photographs
April 30, 2023
Loved this book. Whether they were iconic photos or hidden gems, they brought the history of the U. S. Into living color, though the photos were all black and white.
April 18, 2023
Excellent picture with explanation photographic history❤️Well worth the time it takes to devour it all!
December 20, 2022
Sometimes the photos didn't tell me anything so I read all the summaries in the back. I learned a lot this way quickly and found the summaries very interesting. I just wish the book wasn't so bulky to handle.
December 20, 2022
excellent examples of American life through the lens of many
December 15, 2022
Spend a few hours with this book it is well worth it. And if you are someone who likes to keep books this would be one for your shelf.
December 8, 2022
Excellent book and pictures
December 2, 2022
Beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful all at the same time.
November 19, 2022
If you are a fan of Ken Burns, you'll recognize many of this pictures from his documentaries. An amazing book with outstanding pictures.
December 29, 2022
Some of these photographs are amazing, some I had previously seen. I did not like that the descriptions were in the back...look, flip. Look, flip. I saw the author on a morning program and he explained the photos could just stand alone, I guess I get that. What I really didn’t care for was that the last 2 decades were only captured in a handful of pictures, and that the whole book seemed to be heavy, sad and very dark. There have been dark days in America, yes, but also so many happy and positive ones as well. I thought it would be more of a highs & lows, however, it was not. Overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time.
January 10, 2023
An excellent photographic journey through America's past. Some of the photographs I recognized, a lot I didn't (probably because my attention span in history class was equivalent to that of a goldfish at best). Each image had a description, most of the time giving historical facts about the image, though sometimes about the photographer instead. My one big gripe with this book is that the information for each photo was int he back of the book. Having to flip back and forth was a little tedious but that wasn't exactly the problem... The problem was that the book was so large and kind of heavy that flipping back and forth became more of a chore. Add in carpel tunnel and my wrists weren't having a good time.
Another complaint I have is that the last couple of years (late 1900's to today) were so few. I probably shouldn't even complain as that would have made the book even larger and heavier, and probably a collection of more recent years should have it's own book, but the last few years just felt rushed.
Some could argue that there were other historical events that should have made it into the book, but with so much history it's understandable that not everything could be crammed in one book. A lot of what was in this book was also a reflection of how dark our past could be too. It felt like a lot of dark moments in our history mixed in with a couple of scenic images, but to be honest not all of America's past was exactly all smiles and laughter. It was a lot of struggle and violence, sadness and desperation.
Overall a great collection of photographs and historical information all rolled into one, and definitely a book I would highly recommend a good look through.
Another complaint I have is that the last couple of years (late 1900's to today) were so few. I probably shouldn't even complain as that would have made the book even larger and heavier, and probably a collection of more recent years should have it's own book, but the last few years just felt rushed.
Some could argue that there were other historical events that should have made it into the book, but with so much history it's understandable that not everything could be crammed in one book. A lot of what was in this book was also a reflection of how dark our past could be too. It felt like a lot of dark moments in our history mixed in with a couple of scenic images, but to be honest not all of America's past was exactly all smiles and laughter. It was a lot of struggle and violence, sadness and desperation.
Overall a great collection of photographs and historical information all rolled into one, and definitely a book I would highly recommend a good look through.
January 31, 2023
One does not read this book in the normal sense, but one can “read” the 245 black and white photographs. They are well presented, large and, for most of them, sharply focused. The first is from 1839 and the last is from 2019 (although only the last 4 are from this century). They are all interesting, ranging from historical landmarks and important events to common people and famous celebrities. I found the picture they painted of our country remarkably varied but also troubling and often sad. The photographs are only captioned by their location and date, so I eventually searched for and found the “Illustration Notes” at the back which provide the “backstories” of each photo (although for a few the location is enough, as in “Gettysburg”). I looked first to see if I was correctly identifying the first portrait I thought I knew; it was Henry David Thoreau on page 25. I read many more notes but not all. The last photo is of Congressman John Lewis on page 260.
Now I have read the introductory essays and realize the intentional significance to the structuring of this book. I also want to note my own observation that some of the backstories at the end are out of order with the appearances of their respective photos, however not to the point of real confusion.
Now I have read the introductory essays and realize the intentional significance to the structuring of this book. I also want to note my own observation that some of the backstories at the end are out of order with the appearances of their respective photos, however not to the point of real confusion.
January 12, 2023
Ken Burns’s book is a masterpiece, in several ways. The book is a technical success in that it’s printed well, on heavy paper, and the text describing each photograph is separate and thus not detracting from the photograph. The photographs are humorous, haunting, scintillating, and discomforting, but represent the history of America. Burns’s book is mostly about Americans, where they work and live and, to some extent, the events surrounding both. Some photographs are poignant, some are artistic; many show the evil, hatred, and greed in our history. Some photographs are sad, some are happy, and some are just interesting. Buy or borrow this book, but spend the time—invest the time—to examine the photographs, not just glance at them. Read the descriptions of each photograph in the back of the book, but only after examining the photograph. Then think about where you were when the events in the photographs took place with the people in those photographs were involved in those events. Consider their state of mind and compare it to how you feel about the photographs, the people, and the events.
April 9, 2023
Absolutely amazing. If you are one who skips the forward, don’t, it kicks your feelings in to action. Then you will feel all of your emotions while you journey through the photos with only dates & where they were taken. You will see beautiful architecture and landscape, you will feel anger and sadness, you will possibly be motivated to research something further. Which makes me feel like showing this to children, even though some pictures are pretty rough to stare at, may spark their interest in the history of America, the good, the bad, the beauty, and the chaos. And then you end the book with a bit of information on the photos, possibly confirming information you already knew or remembered from school but had pushed to the back of your brain. Hopefully spurring thoughts of how far we have come (and how far we still have to go with some things) and all that has transpired in the US in what really is a short amount of time. I have picked this book up several times, and it has motivated me to organize old family photos I was recently given and ask the family elders questions before it is too late.
March 23, 2023
This didn't work as well for me as I'd hoped. Burns purports to tell a history of the country through photographs arranged through time. At the back of the book he gives a caption, a brief story or historical blurb about each picture or the times the picture is supposed to represent. He put the captions at the end so as to not break up the pictures. But this just didn't work for me. Most of the pictures are meaningful in what they represent, and I had no idea on most of them what the significance was without the caption. So there was a lot of flipping back and forth.
Some of the pictures are quite interesting. Most are not particularly impactful to me though. This book actually takes a while to get through because of the constant flipping and the large number of pictures. Again, some are quite interesting, like the cover photo, but overall it's not something I would particularly recommend.
Some of the pictures are quite interesting. Most are not particularly impactful to me though. This book actually takes a while to get through because of the constant flipping and the large number of pictures. Again, some are quite interesting, like the cover photo, but overall it's not something I would particularly recommend.
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