gruesome yes, unusual through history, no | Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America

distrubing | Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America | Jon Lewis, Leon F. Litwack, ...

books:


	• Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America Jon Lewis, Leon F. Litwack, ... Twin Palms Publishers, 2000 - 209 pages average customer review:based on 51 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Page Layout Disaster

After reading this book cover-to-cover, I can only agree with the other reviewers with respect to content. However, with respect to page layout and organization -- this book is a disaster area. The pictures are accompanied by minimal text explanations. There is a large section of the book (pages 165-201) called "Notes On The Plates" which does provide detailed text background information for each picture. Problem is that this way of organizing the book is EXTREMELY user-unfriendly, especially considering that there is so much wasted "white space" on the paper containing the pictures (the plates). I was forced (and so will you!) to constantly bounce back and forth between the page number containing the plate and the page number containing the "note on the plate." Some of those "notes" took up nearly a whole page of text by itself! There is absolutely NO REASON why all revelant notes for each picture could not have been placed on the same page (or an adjacent page) for each photo. At the end of the book, it states "Without Sanctuary is limited to 10,000 fourth edition casebound copies." I would suggest a complete desktop publishing layout overhaul be performed prior to the release of any fifth edition. The content is excellent, but the presentation is reader unfriendly! Thus, I only gave it 4 stars.

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gruesome yes, unusual through history, no

This admittedly is a gruesome book, but this is not unusual in world history. There is a photo book on the rape of Nanking that is even worse, and I've seen many older books on atrocities in Africa by natives against other natives, in China, Russia, Germany, etc. 20th Century communism alone is one long series of genocides and atrocities, to the death toll of 150 million. Name a country and I will give you a genocide in their history. At the time of these lynchings in history, this sort of business was common all over the world, by all sorts of motivations and all types of people. I don't buy into the arguement that matters such as this can be used to punish descendants today. It has been a cruel world throughout history, this is only one small part of it worldwide.

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distrubing

I have to say this is truly a horrifying book, because it isn't made up or staged, there are almost 100 plates and they are real photographs from our history. and as horrifying as the pictures are, i think the plate descriptions of the circumstances are even more horrifying. this is a very important book, and one you definately should have.

the other thing i have to say about this book is the cover design: it's excellent for the subject matter. a plain black cover, with a narrow strip, only slightly larger than the hanging man, set off to the right.

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Should be brought to everyone's attention.

As one of the reviewers said "This book should be in every African-American home". True, but more importantly I think it should be in every WASP household and everyone elses. My father was a racist and born in 1911 and I am sure he was aware of these atrocities. (He later changed his attitude.) Well I wasn't! Sure the knowledge was somewhere in my mind, but this book has brought the horrible truth to the front of my conciousness. To have to acknowledge that people took such delight in such atrocities. That they celebrated such horror, leaves me sick at my stomach. But not speechless. Let history start reflecting our sins of the past so we may not repeat them. And thank "Touched By An Angel" for bringing this exhibit to my attention. As soon as I watched the broadcast I ran to the bookstore and purchased. (Sorry Amazon, couldn't wait.) And then went to the website. No other subject has moved me to action so quickly.

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This book broke my heart...

This book is a mirror held up to the face of America. As a European student of African American history I was not unfamiliar with its subject, yet it hit me with such force that I was left feeling numb. Numb, beyond angry.... "Without Sanctuary" belongs in every library, every household - and not just those in the United States. It is painful to view, but it reminds us who and what we, humans are.

If you think this book is solely about the past, a past overcome and left behind on the path of moral advancement, ask yourself why it was only the tiny Roth Horowitz gallery in New York that decided to exhibit the photographs from this collection (turned down by others). The exhibit subsequently moved to a bigger venue, and that, perhaps, gives us hope.

I pray for the souls of the victims, I am finding it impossible to pray for the perpetrators.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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