Customer Reviews

Strange Days Dangerous Nights: Photos From the Speed Graphic Era

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This book takes a wonderful look at the reportage of daily life in a small market daily newspaper before the advent of television, 35mm cameras and yuppified editors with abyssmally sophisticated news judgements. It speaks to the days when a newspaper was the important disseminator of news to the folks of post WW II America, the interpreter of what we were. The everyday stuff, ingeniusly putting their personal stamps on mundane photo assignments, illustrating everyday life, blood and gore, bad guys and good guys--the stuff the everyday Jane and Joe wanted to look at. Probably still do.

This book takes a different view from those historical photographic compilations of the NY Times, or LA Times or the Chicago Tribune, even AP. The photogs at St Paul did not get a chance to shoot the Hindenburg; but they did have plenty of chances to shoot snow storms, floods, and local queens of every sort. They did it with aplomb, and Larry Millett does a wonderful job writing about it, and an even better job of photo editing.

As a current photographer at the St PaulPioneer Press; I am blown away by the work of these guys. Really. I just never knew what these guys did on a daily basis--now I do, and I respect my profession even more.

One advantage of this fascinating book is that you'll see these photos in about the same quality as the original prints. The readers of the two St Paul dailies only saw them printed in a relatively coarse screen but here they are presented in 175dpi on quality paper. The old Speed Graphic captured every detail with its in-your-face blinding flash.

The photos in the eight chapters show an intriguing look back to life in the city from 1945 to 1965, plenty of crime scene stuff (a few are very graphic if your are worried about seeing such photos) but also the regular city newspaper fare, celebrities, civic functions, public gatherings, kids having fun and plenty of sports coverage. An interesting chapter covers the changing face of St Paul, as old buildings are torn down to be replaced with new commercial units and suburbs.

Larry Millet does an excellent job of captioning the two hundred photos (mostly one to a page) not just a few words but two hundred or so for each image and his intro is a succinct review of the importance of news photos to local and city papers across America decades ago. Books about such photos from this period do rather concentrate on sensational crime and blood because they are mostly missing from today's papers. Millett explains that back then the press and the police enjoyed a cosy relationship and mostly didn't ask too many awkward questions about the police version of events. The papers got access to crime scenes for graphic photos and the cops had their faces in the morning editions for fighting crime. TV covers it all today but really gets no closer than the yellow crime-scene tape.

Many of the photos in the book are specific to St Paul but there a plenty that show a past America that applies to any city and so is a good visual record of news focussed events. My only criticism is that I would have expected to see some small thumbnails of pages from the papers showing how the photos were used with their headlines. The essential visual thing about tabloid papers are the headlines and eye-grabbing photos that pull the reader into the story. Apart from that I thought the book was first class, beautifully designed and printed with a really strong editorial content.

BTW I noticed that some reviewers expected to find background information about the Speed Graphic camera, the book is not about the camera but what it produced. There is a ton of information about the camera on the Graflex website, just put the name into A9 or Google.

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

This is an outstanding look at Photo journalism in the 40s, 50s and 60s.There is a story for each of the photos. The book is not so much about the Speed Graphic camera its self but about the era in which the Speed Graphic camera was used from the 1940's to the 1960's at a small town newspaper. The are some amazing crime scene photos that you just dont see in newspapers today.

The book covers the use of photos and how they where touched up to enhance the photo and therefore enhance the story. All photo's are in black and white.

Growing up in St. Paul in the 1950s, this book is a classic. The photography is sensational and the copy humorous and accurate. The book captures the culture and era of the 50s and 60s. I witnessed many of the events pictured in this outstanding volume.

My brother was a photographer at one of the colleges in St. Paul and he used a Speed Graphic camera. He often followed fire trucks and squad cars around the streets of St. Paul and took equally fascinating photos. He sent me this book as a gift and I have not been able to set it down. The cover photo alone is worth the price of the book.

This in an interesting compilation of press photographs from the St. Paul MN area dating mostly from the 1940-50's.

We have all seen a lot of these images from New York, but not from many other places.

This is well-worthwhile reading for those interested in the style and content of press photography in past years.

I am shocked at how the printed media was more "free" back in the mid 20th century than what it is today in terms of photojournalism. I am shocked and amazed that the papers would allow pictures of dead people on their pages. If that were to happen today, the PC express would start a letter campaign to shut the paper down. Besides that, the rest of the pictures capture the Twin Cities at its best and worst. For example, it peels back the veneer of the sunny times of the 50s to show that reality therein. It is a fascinating book and I hope that Larry Millett does another book in this milieu. Regardless, Millet should be commended for helping preserve our history in the Twin Cities.

Not just for people from the Twin Cities! I'm a native New Yorker and I really enjoyed it! This coffee-table sized book is filled with some of the best photo reproductions you'll ever see. Insightful, often amusing commentary accompanies the images. A very high-quality publication. Heavyweight semi-glossy paper stock, thick, rigid boards, beautifully bound in thick, attractive cloth. Will last forever. A good addition to any library. Of great interest to anyone interested in documentary photography, American history, urban renewal, sociology, etc.

Just a GREAT book! Great photos and written very well! A good mix of shocking and light hearted pictures.

Larry Millett has put together so many amazing books on the history of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Strange Days, Dangerous Nights is my favorite. If you like photography, history, journalism or any combination of the three, this book is for you. Amazing photos with beautifully written descriptions bring you back in time to the 1940's-1960's.

Ok, the photos are not from New York or L.A.,but the photos strongly evoke another time and how incredibly different newspapers are today. Would any contemporary paper show pictures of suicides or actual crime scenes before the blood had a chance to dry? The book isn't all dark, scenes from everyday life like padgents and contests are shown as well. I give this five stars because I felt i was transported to another time and had a great sense of how people lived, laughed, cried and in many different ways-died.