Ken Burns' Our America is a photographic chronicle of the good, the bad, and the ugly in United States history. It's beautifully simple in format. Each page layout consists of a black and white photograph. They go in chronological order from the invention of the camera up through the 21st Century. The illustration notes in the back tell the stories behind them. The photos are the work of this nation's greatest photographers--artists like Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, and Lewis Hine as well as lesser known and unknown picturetakers.
Some of the pictured are very famous people who played major roles in this nation's history--people like presidents, Supreme Court justices, and Civil Rights legends. Some are people known only to family and friends--soldiers, child laborers, and desperately poor folks standing in Depression era breadlines. The photographers often capture the dignity and individuality of the latter. A 1912 picture taken in Washington, D.C. shows the resolute determination on the faces of often orphaned and homeless children who earned a meager living hawking newspapers on the streets.
Some pictures are of America's finer moments. But this country's evils are also on display. A picture of an enslaved man shows his back covered with a network of deep scars from whippings. A picture of dead soldiers brings home the terrible cost of the Civil War. People express grief and shock after a church bombing that killed four young girls.
Sometimes the setting is the story as in the gorgeous photos of national parks and the architectural masterpiece crafted by human hands.
I'd call this an investment book. You can keep coming back to enjoy it, sometimes with different intentions. There are no wrong ways to enjoy it. It would be of special interest to people with a lively interest in the past or folks like me who love the artistry and inspiration that photography can be at its best.
On a purrrsonal note, I've enjoyed taking pictures since I got my first camera. When my kids were young I took pictures to preserve memories and share with my mother who lived about 1,000 miles away. As photography became digital I documented my life and photographed events for organizations, once filling in for a professional who last minute ditched Bangor Public Library right before a reading festival. A fun hobby turned into a passion after the stroke. I found myself unable to do my volunteer specialty--shelf reading. I promised the librarians I'd find another way to make myself useful. Photography was it. The first summer I took pictures of the children's garden magic happened. The kids brought out the best in me. They were so natural, so engaged in their activities. I fell in love with the art. Now I'm figuring out how to create a portfolio and listing photography as a skill on my resume.
A great big shout out goes out to the photographers who created the pictures and Burns for bringing them together and making them accessible.
Jules Hathaway
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