Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

Agee's empathetic prose combined with the stark photographs taken by Walker Evans place you in the world of tenant farmers during the Depression and the Dust Bowl. It is a highly unusual book that focuses on the mundane while at the same time showing the glory in the lives of the book's subjects. I read this a long time ago, but I still think about the pictures in it from time to time.

Comments

And Dorothea Lange too

Great to read about this book in the Empathy Library. It's a fabulous addition. The combination of lyrical prose and photos is mesmering. 

A good accompaniament might be the work of other Depression-era photographers such as Dorothea Lange, including photos of hers like Migrant Mother.

Rating: 
4
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
Author(s): 
James Agee
Walker Evans
Year: 
1941
Book type: 
Country: 
America