73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A worthy and, at times, touching document., December 12, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: New York September 11 (Hardcover)
It's startling to read the reviews of this book on the heels of having read the reviews for "One Nation," the book put out by Time-Life. It's clear that many people hold some pre-conceived notion about Magnum and are predisposed to panning this book. Well, I know nothing about Magnum. I've heard the name but I couldn't tell you anything about the company. What I can tell you is that I live in New York and I watched this entire thing happen from my window. I now own two books about 9-11 -- One Nation and this -- and for the best accounting of what happened that day,I have to give the edge to Magnum. There are pictures in this book that are exactly what I witnessed that day. I actually prefer that they rely on photographers to tell what they witnessed instead of having upper-crust "experts" put everything into perspective. Also, contrary to what a reviewer in Seattle says, the colors depicted in the Magnum book are accurate. During the day, the sun used to reflect off of the World Trade Center buildings. On that day, it was reflecting off of impossible clouds of smoke -- black and white -- and the eery gray and washed out blue was how it looked and felt here. Also, something this book does that One Nation doesn't do, is supply several pages in the back of the book -- "Farewell to the Towers" -- featuring photos of the Towers as they were. The final picture is of a woman on the Staten Island Ferry, the WTC and New York behind her -- smelling a bouquet of flowers. I like this book. Alot.
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
History as It Happened, January 17, 2002
This review is from: New York September 11 (Hardcover)
A photographer, lounging in bed and unaware of the disaster unfolding a few blocks away, is awakened by a colleague with the news of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center.
In New York City for a meeting, and unfamiliar with the territory, he asks his colleague where the WTC is.
"Follow the smoke, country boy," is her reply.
This anecdote resonates on several levels. It tells us about how everyone, it seems, was affected on that day, and it tells us how one photojournalist, one of several Magnum photo agency photographers, was personally touched by the events. He and others, who had come from postings around the world to New York City for a meeting the day before, captured the images of the story of their professional lives. And, of course, it's about the dreadful smoke, the utter devastation as the Twin Towers first burned then collapsed in full view of millions.
The Magnum book is an excellent record of the disaster. Even those who have seen hundreds of photos and TV accounts will find pictures that are worthy of extra study. As a record, it's excellent, though I have yet to find a book that has captured the entire story. It's probably too soon. But the starkness of many of the pictures, the shades of gray and blue as the concrete dust and soot spewed for blocks (and later miles) and then settled on everything an everyone, should be seen in still photo. It's very different from the moving images on TV and demand careful attention.
The photos tell us that people sometimes do strange things, though they may be explicable. There's probably a reason that a woman sat on a rooftop in Brooklyn, with her baby, and watched the disaster, even though the choking smoke must have drifted over her pretty quickly. Perhaps she couldn't look away.
The red, white and blue of an American flag adds just a touch of color to the otherwise smoky blue-gray centerpiece picture by Thomas Hoepker. It's a chilling picture, one capable of telling anyone who wasn't there what it really looked like, almost what it felt like.
This book is absolutely a keeper for the future. Many are not the news pictures we've become familiar with because of the endless reruns on TV but that's what gives them extra value. As time passes, and memories fade, this book will remind us what it was like that awful day.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this book, December 20, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: New York September 11 (Hardcover)
Excellent, moving collection by some of the top working photojournalists alive. Publishing under enormous pressure, within a remarkable timeframe, and proceeds go to an important cause.
The nitpicking reviews are just unbelieveable. News flash: photojournalists working in 35mm, moving rapidly, with dust all over their lenses and film badly scratched from debris in the air will produce images that, when enlarged, look grainy. Look at the images and think about them. Non-photographers criticising technical aspects, as if this was a collection of fashion or outdoor adventure shots, is absurd.
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