Customer Reviews

Americana the Beautiful: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another selection of snaps rescued by Charles Phoenix just before they might have ended up in the local landfill. In the same format as his excellent 'Southern Californialand' (ISBN 1883318424) and so much better than the earlier 'God Bless Americana' book. The two hundred amateur slides feature a rich seam of everyday life full of white middle class detail (which of course does raise the question: didn't colored folk take photos back then or perhaps they never junk them).

Overall I thought the photo selection was fascinating and grouping them in themes worked well. The last few pages have some intriguing architectural and transport slides like the 1964 flying saucer style State Capitol Bank in Oklahoma City or the late fifties General Motors Aerotrain pulling into a station. On page thirty-six onward there are several pages of people at home showing all kinds of domestic activity, food on tables, kitchens, watching home movies or just enjoying company. It's interesting looking at these photos because they are so unlike anything taken by professionals though sometimes the composition, lighting and color does lift them out of the mundane.

Like 'Southern Californialand' the editorial format works well with photos one to a page, allowing for a deep caption or several slides butted together. My only criticism is that sometimes out of focus images are too large, for example the soft-focus Jefferson Drive-in on page ninety-seven would have worked better much smaller or even rejected. Also captions frequently describe in words what the reader can obviously see in the picture but fortunately many of them also have plenty of historical background detail about things in the photos.

Charles Phoenix has hit on a successful publishing genre and there surely will be more titles to come but until the next one you can follow the latest finds on his website.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Americana the Beautiful is a trip down memory lane; especially for us Baby Boomers.

These old shapshots are great! What a wonderful trip we took every summer when we visited my mother's family in South Carolina. Remember those luggage racks on station wagons? I remember being on the New Jersey Turnpike one time and luggage thtat was tied to the roof blew off. Dad had to pull our station wagon to the side of the road and pick up a suitcase full of diapers for my younest brother!

I have fond memories of the Dairy Queen and the Good Humor mah. The smell was sweet mixed with raw exhaust fumes! What great times those were!

This book has many great images and is a great coffee table topper except that it is not really worth the price. Starting at 19.99 on [...] I highly suggest that this book is bought in the store.

l have always been fascinated by the 1950s, it was like no other era in history,The American dream, good old fashion values, and families.It was portrayed as an era of blissful harmony and peacful existence for all. When l came across this book by charles phoenix, l was delighted, you cannot be amazed by this book of ordinary people, capturing their lives, on film in excellent quality. The fact that these pictures still remain, in wonderful quality taken by amateur photographers is truefully historical. If you never lived through the 1950s, and l didnt, because lm 35 years old, and your only glimpse of this era is in the movies, then this book is a real gem. His other book, californialand, is equally great book, which he showes more of these great photos of ordinary people living in the 50s. Great historical books.

This is a great trip back in time. The pictures are beautiful and remind me of a lot of family photos, big parties with fancy salads and lace table cloths. The good old days look great in the pages of this book. Can't wait to get his other books.

There is nothing like great images and insight to bring back a long ago era. This book does a great job at setting the stage! Buy it and enjoy!

I loved this book!! This book takes a look at some of the care-free times of the 1950's. A simpler time before the strung-out drugees of the 1960's, school shootings of the 1990's, and young teen having babies of the 2000's. We may have great technological advances now but when you look at the 1950's there were closer-knit neighborhoods where neighbors actually knew each other for years, closer family ties where kids were kids and didn't grow up before their time, music didn't have violent and trash-talk lyrics about degrading women and killing people, and mothers could stay home with their children in their three bedroom/one bath home with the father providing the income so the mothers could stay at home. This book will have you longing for those times again.