Customer Reviews

Kodachrome: The American Invention of Our World, 1939-1959

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An intriguing look at the recent past that most of us have only seen in black and white. Intriguing in that most of the exterior shots, especially the news photos still sort of look black and white, the overall colors that come across are grey and beige. This only makes the remaining photos, mostly interior studio work, seem dazzling. The cost of producing, in print media, regular color images was too expensive so color was basically left to advertising until the mid-fifties. It wasn't until the late seventies that color art photography was finally accepted.

The book certainly has some fascinating photos, not so much the political figures and celebrities of the time but images of everyday life. It is here that I thought the book was rather disappointing, of the 207 photos about a quarter are studio portraits of celebrities, just the sort of photos that were printed in color on magazine covers to be found on any newsstand. I would have preferred to have far fewer of these portraits.

If you are interested in color photos from the past have a look at Bound for Glory: America in Color 1939-43 with 175 images of daily life in America (and fortunately no celebrities). A book that covers Britain in color, from 1945 to 1952, is The S&J;Silver Lining Cross R by Robin Cross. Like 'Kodachrome' these two books offer a new look at the past.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I have to say that this book is AMAZING! My wife wanted it and telling me the title all I thought about was that Paul Simon song.

Upon getting the book, I could understand why she wanted it so badly. It is amazing to see images of Hitler and WWII from my history book except in full blown color.

This is a great book for anyone out there who is interested in history, photography, or if you are interested in seeing history in a whole new light.

This is a glorious volume that reproduces, beautifully, some of the most stunning images of the mid-twentieth century, captured on what is probably the finest colour medium ever produced. Look on these works, ye digital photographers, and despair!

Kodachrome, along with Technicolor, passed into the language as a byword for quality; sadly, it's now passed into history. I am grateful to the publishers of this book for producing a worthy epitaph.

Great book Great bargain.

This wonderful collection of color photographs reminds us that through the introduction of color we moved from the world of Black and White into the world of Color Photography;and that it took place in a relativly short period of only 20 years-1939 to 1959.

Though the change was somewhat imprecise,over a short period we came to think of color as opposed to black and white in virtually every medium where images were made This included everything from persnal snapshots,movies,newspapers,TV,the Comics,wedding pictures,...you name it ,color became the norm.

As a young lad,I along with everyone "saw" WWII as Black and White.Yes there was some color around,as this book points out in the years leading up to WWII, and pretty much into he ffties. We even thought that to view images in B&W was normal.Ihe wholesale change happened without us even noticing it.

This was brought home to me in 1959. I was attending a Hockey Game of the Montreal Canadians at Molson Stadium . In walked a man with his son who was about 8 years old. When they started down the aisle ,the boy exclaimed;"Look,Dad,it's in color!!" Yes even then,we were mostly watching sports,news and all, on B&W TV's.

It wasn't until much after WWII that we saw those images of Hitler,bombed out cities,Pearl Harbor,Buchenwald,Nurenberg,Patton,Roosevelt,Churchill,Stalin,Truman,and all the Soldiers,Sailors and Airmen and their weapons in reality through color.

It's hard to realize that the ability to make pictures like we see of the World's Fair in New York in 1939,was already here;but it took many years to become the norm.Another thing that comes through very clear is the expert skill of the photographers to use color at its advantage. Also clear is the high quality of Color almost from the beginning.

A wonderful tribute to the people who transformed our world of images from B&W to "Living Color-in Kodachrome".