The 1940s (Decades of the 20th Century) (Paperback)

by Nicholas Yapp (Editor), Hulton Getty Picture Collection (Corporate Author), Nick Yapp (Author) "A US infantryman stands guard over a beachhead on the Pacific island of Okinawa in 1945..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Pearl Harbor, Joe Louis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Decades of the 20th Century. Photographs from the Getty collection. Fascinating photographs put images of the power of an event or the zaniness of new trends right before the viewers' eyes. The force of war and political conflict is just as important a theme as world-shaking innovations in science and technology. These are accompanied by portraits of great personalities in art, politics, and society. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Konemann (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3829005210
• ISBN-13: 978-3829005210
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #781,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Each one is worth much more than a thousand words, January 20, 2003

By	Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In a decade dominated by war, the majority of these 1940s photographs are also primarily concerned with that conflict. The first four chapters (out of eleven) deal exclusively with that topic, and World War II also features heavily in some of the later sections. It's an interesting collection of photographs, being a mixture of professional photographers documenting historic events and snapshots taken by ordinary people of commonplace items that are notable now purely for their vintage quality.

The photos that do chronicle the Second World War are outstanding, though those few that detail the various atrocities can make for difficult viewing. Pictures of bravery and heroics sit side by side with images of pure human suffering. Sacrifices at home are shown next to the work being done abroad. This is a well-done summation of those war years in all their different facets.

War is not the only subject catered to in this collection. Sports, fashion, show business, and other events of the post-war years are dealt with. Several celebrities of the day make cameos on these pages, but the primary focus is upon the regular people going about their everyday business; the entertainers are confined to making moral boosting visits to overseas troops. A selection of delightfully goofy pictures is a welcome change from some of the weightier offerings. Seeing Miss Italy knocking out Miss England, Ingrid Bergman chuckling at Alfred Hitchcock, or a Russian solder dancing with an American serviceman is a great antidote to the more depressing and destructive scenes.

The black and white photography here offers us a great insight into the way of life during the 1940s. Each photograph is captioned in English, German and French, but it's not those few words that will be sticking in your memory. There are some unforgettable images that have been captured here. They were stored for decades in plastic and glass, but many of them will now be imprinted in the minds of anyone who peruses this picture book. The photographs here are priceless.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of relatively unknown photos of the forties, December 3, 2002

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is one of the better volumes in the marvelous Decades of the 20th Century series edited by Nick Yapp of photographs from the Hutton Getty Picture Collection. To be honest, this was such a fascinating decade that it would have been extremely difficult to have failed to come up with a great collection. The decade was, of course, dominated by WW II, but the photographs collected in this volume are for the most part completely unfamiliar. But because the photographs are absolutely first rate, the reader can feel that he or she is looking at the war with new eyes. I was particularly interested, for instance, in the photographs of the personal bomb shelters that were used in London during the Blitz.

I recently friends and relatives, and had a different volume edited by Nick Yapp from the Hutton Getty Collection. It was a lot of fun seeing one person, and then another, pick up the book, look at a picture or two, and then go back to the beginning and look page-by-page through the entire collection. These books are not only extremely informative and illuminating of the decades of the previous century, but enormously entertaining.

As I work through each volume in the series, I find the quirks of the series to be increasingly endearing. Like most Americans, cricket has about as much interest for me as bingo, but it is fun to see each volume celebrate cricketeers who are utterly unknown in the U.S. I can imagine that the Anglo-European slant of the volumes would be irritating to some. Few pictures of American everyday life are included. For the most part, Americans pictured are celebrities, athletes, or political figures. Nonetheless, I love all the volumes in the series that have been published so far, and am very excited about the forthcoming additional books that will complete the collection.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hardest years of this century in pictures, December 29, 2000

By	Nikola Grendov (Croatia) - See all my reviews

This book interested me, in the first because of its pictures. Here you can find a drama, chaos, living and world of little man through pictures on order of appearance. How someone visely sad "one picture speaks a 1000 words" I can also say that this is right to say for this book. Also you can buy it for an low price and anjoy for some time. Recommedation...