Evidence [Hardcover]

Luc Sante (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992

A collection of evidence photographs taken by the New York City Police between 1914 and 1918 is minutely annotated to express the social fabric of the times, the texture of the lives depicted, and the progress of the forensic use of photography.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This slim volume contains a haunting collection of 55 black-and-white crime scene photographs made primarily between 1914 and 1918 by New York City police detectives investigating murders and suicides. Sante discovered this archive while researching Low Life, his history of the seamy side of old New York; he notes that these pictures survived when they were overlooked by workers who cleared out the former Police Headquarters in the mid-1980s by dumping most of the records into the East River. While Sante diligently attempts to resurrect the stories behind these images, readers learn less about what happened than about where it happened: about the bedrooms, hallways, railroad tracks, subway stations, cellars and barrooms of New York City 75 years ago.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

While doing research for his highly acclaimed first book, Low Life ( LJ 6/1/91), Sante was given access to the New York City Police Department Archives. There he discovered some 1400 photos and glass plate negatives dating from 1914 to 1918. This was all that remained of the department's once-vast evidence photo files; the rest had been trashed. Taken from the files, these 55 raw, stark photos of the dead--victims of murder or suicides--are both fascinating and horrifying, showing the bodies as they were found by the police in tenement rooms or in vacant lots. The images are accompanied by the author's comments and some excerpts from original newspaper reports of the events. In all, this is a striking and highly original piece of social history. Recommended for large and specialized collections.
- Howard E. Miller, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Missouri Lib., St. Louis
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 99 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); 1st edition (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374150508
• ISBN-13: 978-0374150501
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and extraordinarily compelling, December 6, 1999

By 

Adam P. Lounsbery (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evidence (Paperback)

This is a collection of crime scene photos taken by the New York City Police Department between the years 1914 and 1918. Sante's commentary is clear and consistently well-written. The fascination here is that viewing these images is similar to the feeling one gets when looking through very old snapshots in the attic of a house belonging to an older relative. But the strangely voyeuristic sense one always gets while looking at old photographs is magnified in this book exponentially, and the experience becomes a distinctly chilling, almost uncomfortable one. Although certainly not for everyone, this book is nontheless unique and darkly wonderful.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hideous and ruinous scenes, with great commentary, March 3, 1998

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evidence (Paperback)

The photos in this assemblage are really awful -- I could hardly stand to look. The relief is in reading the commentary, which is a series of lucid, appropriately concise themes on crime, death, material culture, memory, randomness and order -- and the versatile and vital craft of photography.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Evidence, December 3, 2006

By 

The Comtesse DeSpair (http://asylumeclectica.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evidence (Paperback)

A compelling collection of crime scene photographs taken by the New York City Police Department between 1914 and 1918. The images are always intriguing, often mysterious, sometimes artistic, occasionally shocking, and reliably graphic. The appendix contains a detailed explanation of all known facts regarding each image (include applicable newspaper clippings) and much reasonable speculation on those images where the facts are lost to history. Highly recommended for the morbidly curious and fans of morbid history, alike!