Police Pictures [Hardcover]

Sandra S. Phillips (Author), Carol Squiers (Author), Mark Haworth-Booth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1997

From pictures of Lincoln''s assassins to Weeg ee''s blood-drenched murder victims and the thousands of pris oner portraits taken by the Khmer Rouge, Police Pictures exp lores both manipulation of images and the policing function of photography. '

Editorial Reviews

Review

This modest catalogue, which accompanies an exhibition organized by Sandra S. Phillips, packs a wallop bigger than its size.... Why show mug shots in a museum, or in a book intended for an art audience? The answer may lie in the need to explain contemporary photographers' fascination with the subjects of surveillance, categorization and control. -- The New York Times Book Review, Andy Grundberg

Product Details

• Hardcover: 131 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811819841
• ISBN-13: 978-0811819848
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,271,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good addition to your crime library, January 1, 2004

By 

Marcelo Figueredo (Casper, Wy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Police Pictures (Hardcover)

I recommend this book only for people seeking crime scene pictures for historical purposes and/or as a base on early 20th century crime. It's not a good tool if you are seeing it with a crime scene photographers eye since they don't have alot of shots of the same scene. I used it to review every so often to see if there was anything new I noticed in any picture...you would be surprised...

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Photography is but a Tool, August 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Police Pictures (Hardcover)

From Andersonville of the American Civil War to Tuol Sleng of Pol Pot, police have been photographing suspects, convicts, crime scenes, and prisons to collect evidence, record history, and improve techniques to fight crimes and squelch political opposition. This book tries to cover it all: from Che Guevara's fingerprints to James Earl Ray's wanted posters, from the unclaimed bodies of the Communards to the sad souls of Pol Pot's Year Zero campaign, and from murder scenes and execution of murderers.

For good and for evil, photography has recorded who we were and who we are. Photography, as a tool, has been used to support Social Darwinism and eugenics. There are photos of "typical criminal" types as well as a set used to prove that the different races of man are in fact different species. Photography has also been used to solve crimes and put dangerous criminals in jail. All these uses and more are covered in the fine book.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A volume too highbrow for lowbrow "art"..., July 22, 1998

By 

M. Mitchel "m3warlord" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Police Pictures (Hardcover)

After reading a glowing review of this book in Salon Online, I rushed to Amazon to order it. My initial disappointment was the printed hardcover. I attempt to keep my first editions in immpeccable shape, and the lack of a dust jacket puts me off. There is already some wear to the front and back cover, simply from spending a few days on my coffee table. As to the content of the book itself, I found the over-intellectualized text and rather cold presentation off-putting as well. Too be fair, the book is an exhibition catalog, so perhaps the collection of photographs therein manages to find some life in a gallery setting.

A far superior volume, full of life and contradiction is "Death Scenes: A Homicide Detectives Scrapbook" from Feral House. The text in this gritty and strangely beautiful book of photographs is by Katherine Dunn, author of the brilliant novel "Geek Love". The pictures in "Death Scenes" are not at all for the squeamis! h, but have a truth to them that "Police Pictures" lacks. It's true that there are a few plates in "Police Pictures" that are quite wonderful, most of them by WeeGee, the famed photo-journalist. One would be far better served by buying a volume of his work, and letting this one pass.