The Fat Baby (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Fat Baby is an epic collection of poignant and often controversial stories photographed and written by acclaimed social documentary photographer Eugene Richards (b.1944). The culmination of a dozen years of reporting, both on and off assignment, these stories, each one different in style and tone, immerse us in the lives of Honduran coffee growers, members of a Kansas City street gang, drought-plagued villagers from Niger, and doctors in an embattled Bosnian hospital. They chronicle the birth of a first child, an explosion of family violence, the struggle of a farm family to hang onto its ancestral home, and the unearthing of a half-hidden grave said to hold the remains of a slave.

Described as having an acute, sometimes hard-edged visual sensibility and a literary voice, Richards writes in order to come to terms with the complexities of what he is observing. At a time when photojournalists are often relegated to illustrating the ideas of others, he persists in interweaving his words and photographs to create boldly narrative stories that bear witness to the dramas of real lives and comment on the times in which we live. Deeply personal and prodigious in scope, The Fat Baby is a tribute to the emotional power of photography and a celebration of storytelling.

About the Author

Eugene Richards was born in 1944. He started his career as a photographer in the early 1970s after studying journalism and photography. He published his first book in 1973, and joined Magnum in 1981. He has covered, for several magazines in the United States and Europe, several war-related events, as well as social issues such as health conditions in underdeveloped countries, aging, homicides, drugs, and homosexuality.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071484196X
• ISBN-13: 978-0714841960
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #501,757 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning book, May 14, 2004

By	Jurek Wajdowicz (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

It is a deeply moving photojournalistic record of the highest probe. Painfully honest, profound, harsh, unnervingly personal and exceptionally remarkable, this book is one of the best on my own personal and yes, unfairly short list of truly great photographers.

To all aspiring photographers and to established practitioners, I would suggest that perhaps instead of searching for your own style or buying the latest tool in the growing digital photo arsenal -- save the money and get the Gene Richards? ?Fat Baby? collection published and printed with care by Phaidon Press.

Hopefully it will serve you well as a "lighthouse" showing you the right direction while you navigate in the frustrating, never-ending search for new assignments. Perhaps constantly reminding you of what powerful photojournalism can be when commercial compromises and opportunistic careers are not the only options.