Customer Reviews

The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman

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WOW!!! I grew up in the 60's and this book is an incredible review of the "Who's Who" of the era. It's easy to forget what was going on back then... the Vietnam war protests, hippies, long hair, ROCK & ROLL, social revolution, free love!!! Robert Altman's book washed away the decades for me... Flower Power, the "Summer of Love", The Haight, Timothy Leary, Babba Ram Dass, Ken Kesey, Peter Fonda, Peter Max, Buckminster Fuller, Jerry Rubin, a young Dennis Hopper, People's Park, The Stones, the San Francisco scene! And then the rockers... Tina, Mick, Iggy, Chuck, Grace, Daltry, Townshend, Crosby, Joni, Baez, Kristofferson, Ronstadt, Taj, Cocker, Aretha, Diddley, Elton, Clapton, Garcia, Santana... on & on!!! This is a killer book by a killer photographer!!! You're gonna love it!

When I look at The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman, I see exactly where I come from and feel full of hippie heritage pride. I'm not just speaking figuratively -- I'm talking literally, turn to page 23, and there I am, in utero - front and center. Maybe you won't see me without your ultrasound spectacles, but I see me immediately, because I've carried around a framed original print of this photo since I was a kid. I zero in on the beautiful, bare, slightly rounded, 6-month pregnant belly of my mother Rhea - but the true focus of the picture is on Mom belly dancing for a smiling outdoor crowd at the fiddler's convention, my sister Piper sitting astride her shoulders with arms outstretched. You don't see him in the picture but my dad, musician Phil Marsh, is playing the song "Little Egypt" for my mom with his band, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Without knowing it, Altman took my first family portrait. And that is only one of the many incredible & moving photographs in this book.

Robert Altman's electric, beautiful book is a gift to our current slickly-packaged, relatively disengaged, corporate, consumerist era. I don't just look at Robert Altman's photographs, I feel them, I am immersed in them -- hippies making music, dancing, thumbing their noses at authority, thinking outside the box, living authentically and according to their personal beliefs -- I see myself not just on page 23 but spiritually-speaking on every page: I was conceived in this era on a beach in a freethinking cloud of love, acid, pot and creative and political engagement. I managed to emerge from it all clear-headed and with wonderful hippie humanist values. Still, in many ways I've always felt out of place - a psychodelic flowerchild-bohemian-creative-artistic-expressive refugee soul - more a citizen of the swirling 60s cosmos than any nation. But in Robert Altman's world I feel completely at home. Buy the book: I think it will blow your mind.

I am so impressed with the new book by Robert Altman. It depicts the era with its candid photos of rock stars, activists, artists, gurus, yogis, hippies and everyone enjoying the times, the love is present. Robert you have captured an era that has shaped us and brought love back into the universe.Joyce Glick

This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock (August 15, 16 and 17, 1969). This legendary musical festival at the crossroads of the sixties and seventies has been captured both in writing and in recording many many times. You could seriously fill quite a few bookshelves with books on the spectacle that was held on the threshold, or rather 'dawning' of the 'Age of Aquarius'.

Robert Altman's "The Sixties" is a beautiful addition to any bookshelf in its own right. It captures the spirit of the era just like the 5th Dimension-song does. Anyone who has a link with these times, be it directly or indirectly, passed down by parentage or siblings, by their love of the era's music or even from a historic point of view, will be captivated by the strong imagery in this book.

All photos in the book are from between 1969 and 1974. So why is the book called "The Sixties", rather than "The Seventies"? Robert Altman offers the answer to that in the Author's Note: "For many of us 'The Sixties' isn't about the early 1960s of JFK, the British Invasion, go-go boots, or beach blanket romps. For me, 'The Sixties' is the time of Sgt. Pepper, Woodstock, the Summer of Love, be-ins, anti-war protests, and everything else in between, including Altamont"
I could not have said it any better. It is indeed how most people remember The Sixties. The Sixties started in 1969. It's as simple as that!

The book offers some rare and beautiful photographs that capture the innocence and naiveté of the times, but also the promise of something better to come, the belief of a whole generation that better times were about to unfold. Tina Turner, Jane Fonda, Stephen Stills, Taj Mahal, Timothy LearyTimothy Francis Leary: October 22, 1920 - May 31, 1996. An American writer, psychologist, futurist, and advocate of psychedelic drug research.
Source: Wikipedia, Dennis Hopper, Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, Grace Slick and many many others were all part of that generation. These and many more have found their way into this magical book. And so have group hugs, naked dancing, a hippie bus, anti-war demonstrations and a Black Panther rally.

Some names and faces may not be as well-known and familiar in other parts of the world and the book's point of view is distinctly American. That however does not make it any less enjoyable to audiences in other parts of the world.

The imagery in "The Sixties" is really strong and takes you right back. This book is a Time Machine, a happy Time Machine, built by a great engineer by the name of Robert Altman.
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This review was also published at mooimuziek.blogspot.com. Go there for more reviews and articles in both English and Dutch.

Thank you Robert for bringing it all back in your wonder filled photographs. In a flash, I was back in Central Park, the Bronx, and the Bay Area remembering and sharing your pilgrimage. In a moment when so many attempt to recall that conversion of love and spirit your works shine with rich personality and a perceptive eye.
Shine On,
Alan Binstock

I've heard that if you lived through the 60's, you probably can't remember it. If you did live through it, I heartily recommend, The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman as a way to send those memories floating back like the smoke surrounding a Lava-Lamp.

In essence, this is a magnificent collection of photographs that capture the essence of an era. Don't miss out on those memories a second time -- buy this book!

I was immediately taken back through time to the Sixties, The Bronx, the music, the bell-bottoms, and the long hair....Altman's photos are able to capture the spirit that was the 60's and makes you yearn for a return to that time....I love the book and would highly recommend it to anyone under the age of 90......or maybe under 100....a worthy book.

Mr. Altman is a true artist with his camera. These photographs are amazing.

I also like the fact that in addition to the photos from urban areas such as San Francisco, Mr. Altman has included photographs from Goddard College in the small town of Plainfield, VT.

Unfortunately I didn't grow up in the 60's but I love this generation, anybody who feels the same will really enjoy this book. Great pictures but I would have liked a little more text to go along with what I was looking at.

Great pictures. Altman's chronicle is a good choice fora couple hours of leisure. I'd have liked a little text.