West Point [Hardcover]

Marcia Lippman (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The publication of these two volumes coincides with the 200th anniversary of the founding of West Point in March 2002. The first is a brief history and a companion to the PBS special to air in March, while the second is a photographic essay on student life at the academy. Executive producer Grant and historians James Lynch and Ronald Bailey have written an excellent short history of the academy. They emphasize the contributions of superintendents Alden Partridge, Sylvanus Thayer, Robert E. Lee, and Douglas MacArthur, spicing the text with well-chosen reproductions of historical artifacts, photographs, drawings, and paintings. Also covered are the hazing scandals, interracial problems, and the violations of the honor code. (The football scandals of the 1950s are not mentioned, however.) The authors stress that the current excellence of the academic program is based on the continual emphasis on mathematics and the physical sciences. Internationally known photographer Lippman (Bali Journal) spent over a year at the academy as an artist in residence. Her black-and-white photographs vividly portray cadet life, parades, maneuvers, and athletic pursuits. Excellent composition and an emphasis on contrast have created the most beautiful book ever devoted to life at West Point. West Point graduate and author Salter (Burning the Days: A Recollection) contributes a brief narrative. The PBS companion is recommended for all libraries seeking an excellent short history of West Point. Lippman's photographic essay would be a welcome addition to libraries housing large art collections. Richard Nowicki, Emerson Vocational High (ret.), Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Lippman's glowing photographs of the U.S. Military Academy are day-lit. Foliage and grass appear light gray to stark white in tone, and in almost every shot, the atmosphere is a radiant haze. The book follows a year at West Point, from the summer induction of new cadets to the spring graduation of first class cadets, and Lippman depicts its outdoor activities: basic training, sports, field training, company formation, graduation. Besides their glow and shimmering visual texture, these pictures are generally monumentally composed, with large masses of light and darkness dramatically abutting one another and bold lines assertively slashing over backgrounds. The youth, taut figures, and flashing teeth of the cadets in them ward off portentousness, however, so that this photographic monument to the 200-year-old institution is a lambent dream rather than a glaring spectacle. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Edition Stemmle; First Edition edition (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3908163501
• ISBN-13: 978-3908163503
• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 10.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,246,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice photos, but little context save the commercial one, July 15, 2002

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: West Point (Hardcover)

Photographer Marcia Lippman was artist-in-residence at the US Military Academy in 1986, and spent a year photographing images and life at West Point. More than 15 years later, her photographs have been published as yet another of the many, many books commemorating the Academy's bicentennial.

Ms Lippman is a good photographer, and the photos in this book (all black and white) include some interesting explorations with light and shadow, the mass nature of life in uniform, and the like. The cover image, as well as several others, is almost Hitchcockian. The minimal text strives for a kind of High Art ethos that often seemed out of place with what was actually being shown (kind of like those NFL Films efforts to turn football games into modern Iliads).

Maybe I didn't take enough art appreciation courses in school, because as I looked at many of the images, my first response was to ask, 'What's going on?' There are a few pages of captions in the back of the book, but they're not always helpful (example: 31. Formation, Central Area). West Point graduates will probably be best able to understand what they're seeing, and maybe the images will be particularly evocative for them. But personally, I didn't feel compelled either to set this out on my coffee table, or to return to it again and again to absorb the masterful artwork. And apart from cashing in on the bicentennial, was there any particular reason to publish these images now, as opposed to fifteen years ago, or fifteen years in the future?