Customer Reviews

Jews/America: A Representation

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

 

 

This oversize coffee table book caught my eye in the bookstore. With a price of $67.50, its gotta be great to sell -- and it is. The photographs are truly outstanding and many outlandish. Jews on Harleys in front of a synogoge in Florida, Holocaust survivors visiting LA's holocaust museum, and a family of persian, jewish immigrants seated on a flying carpet in their neighborhood. The best part of this book is not that the photographer manages to capture the diversity of jews in the states but that each of the pictures he presents is stunning in its own right. Brenner managed to gain access to an unbeliveable number of private, Jewish forums, from Jewish Civil War buffs who get together in costume to re-enact period battles to Lesbian Jewish families, the collection is fresh, provocative, and rich

Surprising, moving, magical. Brenner's photographs speak volumes. I was most moved by a picture that includes not a single Jew. It features instead a panoramic shot of the main street of Billings, Montana, the citizens of which had filled the streets, each holding a menorah aloft in protest against a violent attack on a Jewish resident's home. A book that claims to, and succeeds at, framing the diversity of American Jewish experience also succeeded in reaffirming my faith in the decency of humankind.

All stereotypes are broken with this unique view of a people and their eclectic influence on the American scene. The mostly black & white panoramic viewpoint maximizes the visual impact. The outstanding photo technique, large page size and strong composition make this a center piece of your home coffee table books to be enjoyed for years to come. I only wish several pages were devoted to the actual technical aspects of the shots

Remarkable images, extraordinary reproduction. Ironic that the publisher was put up for sale the day the book was published