Sahel: The End of the Road (Series in Contemporary Photography, 3) (Hardcover)

by Sebastiao Salgado (Author), Orville Schell (Author), Fred Ritchin (Author), Eduardo Galeano (Author), Lelia Wanick Salgado (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Shot over 15 months during 1984–1985 as a horrific famine raged across sub-Saharan Africa, Salgado's documentation of the Sahel region (including parts of Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and the Sudan) was one of his first projects as he transitioned from working economist to photographer. More than 50 prizes and many books and exhibitions later, this edition brings that early work into the States in book form for the first time. Each of the 80 or so b&w shots is given a full page with generous borders; that photos of people near death are beautifully composed and printed make for just two of their paradoxes. Orville Schell argues in his foreword that "[Salgado's] strategy is to pull us into the subject with visual seduction, and then once we are enthralled—or shocked, as the case may be—to educate us about the issue at hand." With the genocide and displacement of black Africans by their Arab northern compatriots in the Sudan currently leading to serious food shortages, Salgado's book remains at the very least a relevant call to action. Portions of the profits of the book will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.
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Review
"While art should speak for itself, Salgado's photography is first and foremost a documentary way of bearing witness to something else. His work is both an anguished cri de coeur and, although he professes not to be religions, something of a votive offering presented in the hopes of getting the attention of a world that sometimes seems to have fallen asleep." - Orville Schell, from the Foreword"

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520241703
• ISBN-13: 978-0520241701
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 11.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,924 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will haunt you long after you put it down, August 29, 2008

By	Guy P. Harrison "author, columnist" (Earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

By Guy P. Harrison, author of 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God


In 1984-1985 approximately one million people died as a result of a severe famine in the Sahel region of Africa (includes parts of Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, and Sudan). Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado spent many months shooting the disaster and "Sahel: The End of the Road" is the remarkable result of his efforts. The photos, all in black and white, are art in the most meaningful sense. Salgado's images grab you by the throat and pull you into the dizzying mix of horror, pain, love, hope and struggle that exists within a crisis like this.

I suspect that some may criticize Salgado's work for being too good. His photographs are so haunting and dramatic that they arguably could be seen as exploitive. His subjects, starving people, could be mistaken for actors on Hollywood sets precisely designed to drag emotions from viewers. If Stephen Spielberg did a famine movie to match "Schindler's List", for example, it probably would look a lot like Salgado's book. I imagine critics thinking that famine is not fiction; it's real and it's ugly. But Salgado's images are not staged. This obviously was life, death and the in-between as it occurred before his eyes. His choice of black and white film and his talent for seeing, framing and capturing spectacular shots are hardly crimes. He is a great photographer and he did what he does. One cannot blame him for preferring to apply his talents out on the jagged edge of human misery rather than some Paris runway or football match. "Sahel: The End of the Road" is not poverty pornography. I am very sensitive to the issue of extreme poverty yet I did not close this book with a feeling of disgust, rather I felt more aware, more human and more determined to care.

Back in 1984, during the height of that terrible famine, images on CNN and the BBC forced the western world to cringe in horror. Some turned away; some tried to help. (Remember "Live Aid" and the hit song, "We are the World"?) Politicians delivered determined speeches, preachers prayed, and the public agreed that mass starvation was not something the modern world should allow to happen. Then, of course, nothing meaningful was done to end global hunger or prevent future famines. Today, nearly a quarter of a century after the famine that Salgado photographed, more than 800 million people do not have enough food. Every day more than 16,000 children die from hunger. That's one child dying every five seconds. Buying this book, by the way, does provide some direct help as a portion of profits are given to Doctors Without Borders, an organization that provides medical aid to people in the developing world.

The true horror of Salgado's book is not that it serves as a record of that terrible famine that occurred 24 years ago. This is not a mere collection of snapshots, past moments frozen forever by a camera. No, more than anything, Salgado's work is a mirror that reflects a current and continuing horror that we in the West seem to find acceptable.
I highly recommend this book. It may not be the happiest book you will ever own but that is no reason not to experience the work of Salgado. As a human you have an obligation to at least look at the real world we inhabit. Don't turn away. Look, and see humanity for what it really is.

For those who feel the desire or need to help improve global hunger in some way, I suggest visiting www.unicief.org and making a donation. There is a convenient page on the site that accommodates credit card transactions. A few of your dollars won't stop hunger or change the world but it may save a child or two. And that's not a bad start.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting imagery, September 17, 2005

By	T. Monson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of the most potent books on the human experience. I got a lump in my throat while viewing this collection of prints. Sebastiao Salgado is a master at using value to capture shape and texture in his subject matter.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great but too real, May 12, 2007

By	Alejandra Garcia (Distrito Federal, México Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think Sebastiao Salgado is a great photographer. All the black and white pictures are in duotone color, which make them look very professional. Something this book has is that you can see through people and at the same time look to a picture with great composition, so you can feel the picture and at the same time admire it's appearance. I just think the pictures are too sad for me, you can see the real people suffering so much.