Angels, Anarchists & Gods [Hardcover]

Christopher Felver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

Felver is a portraitist who collaborates with his subjects, drawing out their "presence" and embracing its momentary flash of visibility. Powerfully present are such well-known personalities as Allen Ginsberg, Susan Sontag, Maya Angelou, Arlo Guthrie, Angela Davis, B.B. King, and Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter. The 200 images collected here speak to the shared cultural heritage of unrestrained voice and stubborn struggle.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Felver started hanging around with the avant-garde in the '60s. Becoming a photographer, he started taking pictures of his outrefriends in the '70s, as they began metamorphosing into the old guard. Now 50, he has amassed a superb portrait gallery that he shares in a big, handsome book. Yes, that hairy-faced fellow on the cover, apparently obeying the instruction--"HOWL" --on his shirt, is Abbie Hoffman. Inside are eight separate images of the author of the poem "Howl" --Allen Ginsberg--showing him all by himself, with other Beat bards, teaching at Naropa, and even in surrogate form in a dual "portrait" of his painted likeness by Elaine de Kooning and Jack Kerouac's paint box. These rich monochrome portraits are marvelously open, friendly, even funny (Charles Bukowski bowing before a cooler o' beer), but what are Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter doing here? (Looking good, looking good.) If you want to know what being creative looks like, look long at these pages. Ray Olson

Product Details

• Hardcover: 203 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807120855
• ISBN-13: 978-0807120859
• Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 10.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,765,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where to from here . . ., February 17, 2000

By 

Scottie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels, Anarchists & Gods (Hardcover)

Know this in advance: Angels, Anarchists & Gods is only black & white portraits without much explanation. It is a photo album of some special people in some of our lives. For us we will know these people and delight in seeing them again.

In this photo album are many of the people who expanded and kept truth and freedom and creativity and peace alive. They did this and we did this primarily in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. While some are no longer among us, the wonderful portraits are not as these folks looked then. The photos are of these great human beings in middle or late age or as they are currently. They are still beautiful. They look great and there is still much sparkle and energy.

The portraits are top notch from a photo art standpoint. Each one really brings out the subject and in some cases their world. For me, the even grater value of this publication is it's providing a photo album of key individuals that changed our lives for the better. Having this book reminds me not only of these people, but of the messages their leadership brought.

These challanges are alive and need to be met today as ever before to keep peace, freedom, brotherhood, sisterhood, truth and creativity alive. These challanges did not start nor end in the sixties and seventies. We still have much to do.

I hesitate to list some of the people in this photo album, because I could not possibly come close to listing them all. I will leave it as a very pleasent suprise for those rare folks who will buy this unique book. Enjoy.

P.S. - If by chance one purchased and enjoyed Linda McCartney's Sixties - Portrait Of An Era, then Christopher Felver's Angels, Anarchists & Gods is a must have. While few of the folks presented are musicians (as with Ms. McCartney's wonderful book) these people were very much a part of the important movements in the 50's, 60's and 70's or in some cases, at least part of the fun of those times. As Felver's book will show, these people are, in many cases, alive and well and their ideas and gifts are too.