The Day in Its Color: Charles Cushman's Photographic Journey Through a Vanishing America

picture reproduction is about on par with a color xerox photocopy. printed on the cheapest paper i have ever seen in a photobook. a lot of pontificating and no quality pictures. academic nonsense - not an art book.

When I found out about this book on NPR I knew it would make the perfect Christmas gift for my grandfather. I did not ever have this book in my possession, but I did get to view a slide show of the photos on NPR's website. The man who took these photos was a reporter in Chicago and chronicled the city and his travels across the US. There is a lovely story about his troubled wife, whom he retired for and took care of after a suicide attempt. They spent the remainder of their days touring the country and she is the subject of many photos with sweeping and breathtaking backdrops, or famous landmarks. He also captured so much of the mundane, that a historical record of daily life has been preserved in these photos. You will note that the photos are made with color-saturated Kodachrome stock, and are extremely unusual. If you are interested in any of these subjects, or have a loved one from this era, I highly recommended this purchase.

I have bought two of these because the current edition from the publisher did not come close to the quality of the library book. The paper is not smooth and glossy, which diminishes the contrast in the pictures and makes many of them look out of focus. For a volume of excellent photographs poor reproduction is a killer. The text is the same, which saves this from a lower rating. I was able to find a used, "collectible" edition which was a first printing and matched the library book exactly. And it was 1/2 the current price, but in flawless condition.

Paper quality quite poor, but nevertheless lovely book

This book was a total impulse buy and I am very glad I got it. The color prints are beautifully reproduced and there is just enough copy to understand the photographer, but not enough to interfere with the gorgeous pictures. Stabs of memory are on every other page -- what a beautiful memoir.

As I said, terrible quality.

good book

Picking up this book, THE DAY IN ITS COLOR, is akin to opening that chest in the attic and discovering a family album of photographs that bring back all the history of your life in a moment of passion for everything you have loved. Charles Cushman's gift to our emotional history is placed before the public in this touching book of images from across the United States taken from 1938 to 1969 by a man not formally trained as a photographer but a man who was obsessed with travel, and while following his obsession, happened to document on color Kodachrome film those little aspects of midcentury America that often went unnoticed and that have since disappeared in many cases.The odd aspect of this collection if the fact that these 150 images are only the tip of the photographic realm Cushman produced: his recently discovered legacy contains almost 14,500 color photographs that were unknown until after his death (Cushman was born in 1896 and died in 1972). These images - including festivals, monuments such as the Grand Canyon, movies sets, cityscapes, landscapes, skylines, portraits of various ethnic groups, of children and of people he found interesting from San Francisco to New York and every place in between. His eye paused for the simple aspects of living, with glimpses into the daily life of small farms, rural towns, and bustling city streets, Brylcreem signs that marked the bumpy roads across the country, county fairs, people passing time with neighbors, bustling city streets - and all photographs were documented with time and place.This book is definitely part of the definition of `outsider art' and now that the imagery has been captured in this fine volume Cushman is guaranteed a place in the annals of color photography and as a particularly sensitive historian. Eric Sandweiss provides the written word that so gracefully enhances this fine book. Grady Harp, October 12

Mi aspettavo un libro con scorci interessanti, ma allo stesso tempo artistici. Ho trovato solo fotografie di vicoli trasandati e strade lasciate a sè, senza alcun tocco artistico (secondo la mia opinione).