Customer Reviews

A Day in the Life of America: Photographed by 200 of the World's Leading Photojournalists on One Day, May 2, 1986

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

 

 

I saw this book new in the bookstore when it was first released and loved it. I was just out of high school when it was published and couldn't afford it. I bought a calendar with photos from it instead. To this day, I wish I'd somehow come up with the money; it would be a treasure. As it is, I'll have to get a used one. I mounted the picture of window washers on a building in Dallas on posterboard (my cheap version of matting) and took it with my all over that job for 6 years; in fact, in a building housing almost 1000 people, if someone had to find me, they were given a description of the picture on my wall, not me :). It is a stunning book. I agree with a previous viewer- I'd love to see the same places and people, 20 years later, and I'd love to see a book like that about every country (at the moment, especially Iraq after the 2nd gulf war).

It's a fascinating glimpse of life in America, showcasing all walks of life. I'd love to see a followup book of the same subjects (those still living) 20 years later.

This book is an amazing discription of the different cultures and lives of the people of America. Just by seeing these pictures of ordinary people, you are able to discover the main purpose of this country - freedom. The freedom to live your life the way you want to.

There are many good photographs in this book, but the topic is so insanely broad that the exercise of collecting them becomes almost meaningless. This book was a big deal back in the eighties, and everyone had it on their coffee tables, and it spawned a whole slew of similarly marketed titles such as 'A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union,' etc. But the concept, which sounds interesting at first, doesn't really hold water. What we have here is a bunch of random photographs, supposed to represent "America" on a given day. However, any such collection is notable mostly for what it leaves out. To me, it was a triumph of marketing.

This book was given to my grandfather for his birthday the year before I was born. As a child, this was a constant presence in my grandparents' house, where I often remember laying under the coffee table in the TV room looking through the pictures and imagining the situations and people that were in it. Now, 24 years later, this book has been passed onto me. The pictures are still beautiful and capture power and emotions that have not faded despite the partition in time and culture from then to now. This was a picture of America at the peak of its post-WWII economic, cultural, and political golden age and, for anyone who was alive during or close to this time, this book is a great way to have a powerful trip down memory lane. A follow up book in this tradition is almost a must if it has not been done already.

I purchased this book when I was in my early teens, because I had never been to the USA and wanted to know more than the touristy things, very good photography with interesting stories to match.

This book is full of beautiful photographs that truly show the "melting pot" image of America. Every cultural group, race, age, and income level is represented here. What a great gift idea.