Customer Reviews
Magnificent window on history. Highly recommended - By: Hooligween, 21 Aug 2008 
This heavyweight hardback is an absolute treasure. It reproduces a selection of colour photos from a personal archive which was started by Albert Kahnin 1909. The collection runs through the next twenty years until Kahn's finds ran outin 1931, & so records all aspects of life at the beginning of the 20th century.
Kahn, a millionaire banker, despatched a team of photographers around the world to capture the essence of many different cultures. He established a collection of over 72,000 photos -- many of themin colour, which was the ground-breaking technology of the time. This book gives an overview of the collection with some of the most fascinating / poignant images organised by location; Europe, The Americas, Balkans, Middle East, Indochina & Far East, with special sections for the First World War & Portraits plus essays on the man himself & how autochrome photography was used.
I adored the TV series which accompanied the book, & longed to see more of the images with a more detailed expert commentary (although it doesn't look as if the BBC are going to put it out on dvd -- shame!). This book fulfils that expectation, offering a simply massive selection of images accompanied by an explanation of when, where, who & what the heck is happening.
Some of the shots are completely everyday (like 'men moving furniture, Reims, 1917) or 'men cutting stone, Shenyang, 1913) but every shot reveals an array of information about the era & the people. Many photos show a time before an industrial revolution (where a monolithic stone is laboriously cut by hand, for instance), or highlight the horrors of the landscape of the First World Warin France. There are some simply terrifying pictures taken from a soldier's viewpoint across the battlefield, & some wonderful shots of early submarines, airships & biplanes.
The book contains 368 photosin colour & runs to nearly 350 pages. It's a technical achievementin itself -- to have reproduced the slightly surreal colours of autochrome like this must have taken months of careful work. The text is ideal, too; succinct, informative & revealing.
Perfect gift for anyone who has an interestin 20th century history.
9/10
Excellent! - By: Mr. R. Tarr, 31 Jul 2008 This is a fantastic book. Richly illustrated, with just enough contextual information to make sense of each picture but not so much as to detract from the images themselves, which are the main feature. The ultimate "coffee table" book!
an excellent book - By: Stringer, 29 May 2008 This is a beautiful book full of mesmerising pictures & worth every penny. It is a remarkable thought to think that these scenes are frozen from over almost 100 years. A wonderful book by Okuefuna
