Dorchester Days [Hardcover]

Eugene Richards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2000

This is Eugene Richards' 1972 photographic essay, a social document of his home town of Dorchester, Massachusets, previously only self-published. The book includes additional pictures and a text that speaks of racial tension, violence, poverty and crime, tackling such subjects as the Klu Klux Klan in a way that he did not feel able to at the time of the original publication. On the basis of "Dorchester Days", Richards became a member of Magnum Photos in 1978, leaving to work independently in 1994. His style has set the standard for leading photojournalists such as James Nachtwey and Gilles Peress.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 108 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (October 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714840017
• ISBN-13: 978-0714840017
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Photo Documentary Classic Reissued, December 18, 2000

By 

B. D. Colen (Brookline, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dorchester Days (Hardcover)

Eugene Richards is arguably America's greatest living social documentary photographer, and "Dorchester Days" is his photographic portrait of the blue collar Boston neighborhood in which he came of age.

Originally self-published and printed on a press intended for canning lables, this Phaidon reissue and update of this classic does real justice to Richard's stunning in-your-face documentary style. In addition to including all the original photos and text, this new addition includes photos Richards made of the racial strife in nearby South Boston in the 1970s, as well as additional text, most of it reproduced in Richard's handwriting.

Gene Richards is, sadly, one of a dwindling if-not-dying breed of documentary photographer, whose lives and work are dedicated to telling the stories of the voiceless. A former Vista volunteer and Civil Rights worker, Richards continues to expend his greatest photographic effort to doing good by doing art. And for that reason - even if he wasn't the W. Eugene Smith of our era - this multiple-time Magazine Photographer of the Year deserves the support of anyone seriously interested in photography, or in the lives of the people respectfully examined in his work.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous, May 14, 2004

By 

cherry bomb (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dorchester Days (Hardcover)

Before studying photographs, I did not realize why he has been so highly evaluated, though I felt every his photograph is so strong. But now I really understand his unique vision attracts the viewer. I cannot believe this high quality book was originaly self-published book. His view to see the world is what has not seen. The photographs tell he had close relationships with the subject. So, it is not difficult for the viewer to relate them to the subject. I wish I were the camera he holds...