portraits

Celebrates the achievements of thirty-nine African-American men between the ages of eighteen and thirty-two, from diverse backgrounds including teachers, entrepreneurs, poets, and politicians.

Brief biographies and portraits of wives, sisters, daughters, nieces and other relatives of presidents who have served as White House hostesses, from Martha Washington to Hillary Clinton.

Contains black-and-white portraits of seventy-five African-American women born between 1892 and 1954, who have made significant contributions to their fields, including performers, politicians, educators, writers, artists, activists, and others; each accompanied by a personal essay.

Contains 163 black-and-white glamour shots of 1940s movie stars taken by leading Hollywood photographers, each with credits.

Contains 145 black-and-white glamour portraits taken of Hollywood stars between 1926 and 1949, drawn from the collection of John Kobal, each captioned with the date, photographer, and studio, movie, and in some cases costume designer associated with the photograph.

Some of the photographs in this treasure trove are already well known - Bellow, Mailer, Cheever, Wolfe, Singer, and Capote, to name a few. Others have never before been published. Many were taken on location, from Tom Stoppard in London and James Baldwin in Provence to Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Mexico City - one of ten Nobel Prize winners in the book. Closer to home, we have Eudora Welty in Jackson, Nelson Algren in Chicago, Philip Roth and Maurice Sendak in rural Connecticut, Anne Sexton and John Updike near Boston, Walker Percy in Louisiana, Christopher Isherwood in Santa Monica, Annie Proulx in Wyoming, and several writers in the Hamptons. Whatever the setting, the images are fresh and authentic. The thoughts on writing are a complement to the portraits; often words and pictures seem to exist in a magical rapport.

A collection of portraits of 100 hip-hop rap artists with commentary.