Description

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The approximately 77,000 photographs in The Library of Congress' collection from the (FSA), later the Office of War Information (OWI), provide a unique view of American life during the Great Depression and Second World War. This government photography project, headed by Roy E. Stryker, was initially conceived to document government loans to farmers and their resettlement in suburban communities, but the scope of the project expanded to create a visual record of agricultural workers across the United States. These evocative pictures transport the viewer to American homes, farms, and streets of the 1930s and 1940s, while offering a glimpse of a new narrative and intimate style that defined America.

This volume features an introduction to the work of Russell Lee and presents 50 images selected from his work.

About the Author

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Nicholas Lemann has published five books, most recently Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War (2006). He has written extensively for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, Slate and American Heritage and has worked in documentary television with Blackside, Inc., Frontline, the Discovery Channel, and the BBC. Amy Pastan is an independent editor and scholar, formerly of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The Preface is by W. Ralph Eubanks, director of publishing at The Library of Congress.