"It does seem to me that Capa has proved beyond all doubt that the camera need not be a cold mechanical device," John Steinbeck wrote of photojournalist Robert Capa in a quote that launches this well-written, exhaustively researched biography. "Like the pen, it is as good as the man who uses it. It can be the extension of mind and heart." That’s quite a compliment coming from an author like Steinbeck, but then Capa won the respect and friendship of some of the brightest talents of his generation; other admirers and poker buddies included Ernest Hemingway and John Huston, and among his many loves was actress Ingrid Bergman. Capa won fame slogging through the blood and grime to capture vivid images of five different wars, from the Spanish Civil War (where he wasn't above staging some of his photographs), through the landings at Omaha Beach on D-Day (which he chronicled for Life magazine as the only journalist to wade ashore with the first wave of G.I.s), to the early days of the Vietnam conflict (where he was killed in action at the age of 41 while covering the French army, soon to be replaced with disastrous results by the Americans). Born a Hungarian Jew named André Friedmann, another great writer, John Hersey, famously dubbed the swarthy chain-smoking photographer "the Man Who Invented Himself," and author Alex Kershaw contends that one of his greatest achievements was the legend that he created for himself. A California journalist who contributes to The Guardian and The Sunday Times Magazine, among others, Kershaw brings Capa and his times to life with bright, vivid writing and telling anecdotes, using a fascinating personal odyssey to put the man's professional accomplishments in perspective. "Capa was the first photographer to make photojournalism appear glamorous and sexy," he writes. Of course, that distinction and all others take a back seat to the photos themselves, and this book’s only shortcoming is that it does not include any examples of the great man’s work.--Jim DeRogatis


From Publishers Weekly
Robert Capa was the archetype of the intrepid war photographer. Asserting that "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," Capa braved combat in the Spanish Civil War, hit Omaha Beach in the first wave on D-Day, and jumped behind German lines with American paratroopers, returning with visceral pictures-like the famous (and possibly staged) "falling soldier" photo of a Spanish Republican militiaman who had just been shot-that defined our idea of what modern war looks like. "Profligate, passionate, impulsive," Capa was a ladies' man who liked nice togs, hobnobbed with the rich and famous, got caught up in anti-Fascist and Popular Front politics, and played poker compulsively when he was not risking his life in combat-in other words, he practically invented the persona of the celebrity photojournalist. He also co-founded the pioneering Magnum photo agency, which gave freelance photographers ownership and control of their photos. Journalist Kershaw gives an engrossing account of Capa's impossibly romantic life, elegantly evoking both the horror of the front lines and the glamour of wartime Madrid, London and Paris, where Capa befriended the likes of Ernest Hemingway and romanced the likes of Ingrid Bergman. Packed with arresting anecdotes and character studies, Kershaw's biography is a worthy companion to Capa's work. Photos. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
War photographer Robert Capa's "work remains unquestionably the most evocative photographic record of the most turbulent years of the twentieth century," writes Kershaw in this gripping, nearly feverish, first-ever biography of a man of valor and "irresistible zest and charm." Kershaw covers every aspect of Capa's fast, enormously influential, and rightfully legendary life, from his transformation from Andre Friedmann, a Hungarian Jew, into intrepid, self-taught photographer Robert Capa in Berlin during the 1930s. A passionate womanizer and gambler, heavy drinker, and all-around good-time guy, Capa could never stay still. And because he risked his life to document the inconceivable carnage of modern warfare, his life story is tightly woven into vivid accounts of the most hellish battles of World War II and Israel's war for independence. Capa also founded Magnum, the renowned photographers' agency, and partied with fellow travelers Hemingway, Ernie Pyle, Steinbeck, and many beautiful women, including Ingrid Bergman. Handsome, voracious, and compassionate, Capa documented the worst and best of life until death found him in Indochina in 1954. Kershaw's riveting chronicle reveals just how profoundly Capa was a man of his catastrophic times, and how crucial his indelible photographs are to our understanding of this tragic legacy. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Packed with good stories, and snappily written, Blood and Champagne is as full of life as the man it celebrates."


Review
"Packed with good stories, and snappily written, Blood and Champagne is as full of life as the man it celebrates."


Book Description
Robert Capa was arguably the finest photojournalist of the twentieth century and without doubt its greatest combat photographer-he covered every major conflict from the Spanish Civil War to the beginnings of Vietnam. An inveterate gambler who coined the dictum "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," Capa risked his life again and again, most dramatically as the only photographer landing with the first wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day, and he created some of the most enduring images ever made with a camera.

But the drama in Capa's life wasn't limited to one side of the lens. Born in Budapest as Andre Freidman, Capa fled political repression and anti-Semitism as a teenager by escaping to Berlin, where he first picked up a Leica and then witnessed the rise of Hitler. By the time his images of D-Day appeared in Life Magazine, he had become a legend, the first photographer to make his calling appear glamorous and sexy, and the model for many of the most intrepid photographers to this day. In 1947, after a decade covering war, he founded a cooperative agency-Magnum-and in the process revolutionized the industry. For the first time, photographers would retain their own copyrights and negatives, and nearly half a century later, Magnum remains the most prestigious agency of its kind.

By the time he died, at just forty-one in 1954, Capa was not only the greatest adventurer in photographic history. He had become a colleague and confidant to writers Irwin Shaw, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway and director John Huston, and a seducer of several of his era's most alluring icons, including Ingrid Bergman.

From Budapest in the twenties to Paris in the thirties, from post-war Hollywood to Stalin's Russia, and from New York in the fifties to Indochina, Blood and Champagne is a wonderfully evocative account of Capa's life and times. Based on extensive interviews with Capa's friends and contemporaries, as well as FBI and Soviet files and other previously unpublished materials, Alex Kershaw's biography is every bit as compelling as its charismatic subject.



From the Inside Flap
International Praise for Blood and Champagne: "Ambition, integrity and courage were intertwined in Capa, as Alex Kershaw persuades in this elegant biography ...a spellbinding portrait of his gypsy life." -Christopher Sylvester, Sunday Times (UK) "A fine read, full of high emotion like watching Casablanca for the first time. A tale rich with intrigue, love, lust, lies and betrayal...I loved this book." -Janine di Giovanni, Literary Review (UK) "This new biography has many of the ingredients of an adventure story." -Martin Gayford, Sunday Telegraph (UK) "Remarkably fine." -Justine Picardie, Daily Telegraph (UK) "Packed with good stories, and snappily written, Blood and Champagne is as full of life as the man it celebrates." -Observer (UK)


About the Author
Alex Kershaw is a journalist and screenwriter. As a frequent contributor to England's Guardian, The Sunday Times Magazine, and The Observer, he has worked closely with several award-winning photojournalists. His previous book was Jack London: A Life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"By the time he died, at just forty-one in 1954, Robert Capa was not only the greatest adventurer in photographic history. He had also become a colleague and confidant to writers Irwin Shaw, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway, and director John Huston, and a seducer of several of his era's most alluring icons, including Ingrid Bergman." From Budapest in the twenties to Paris in the thirties, from postwar Hollywood to Stalin's Russia, and from New York in the fifties to Indochina, Blood and Champagne is a wonderfully evocative account of Capa's life and times.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

André Friedmann, a.k.a. Robert Capa, war photographer, bon vivant, and co-founder of Magnum, the legendary photo agency, remains the archetype of the committed photojournalist, risking his life to capture indelible images of the Spanish Civil War, Japan's invasion of China, Second World War battles in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, and Israel's war for independence. A Hungarian refugee who arrived in Paris in 1933, Capa transformed himself into a charming, caustic adventurer, a high-stakes gambler who left behind a heartbroken trail of beautiful women (including Ingrid Bergman). Kershaw is sympathetic, but by no means blind to his subject's technical, personal, and occasionally ethical limitations, and he conscientiously corrects the romantic embellishments that Capa made to his life story. No matter who tells it, there's a haunting inevitability to the story's end, when, in 1954, Capa finally runs out of luck -- at the age of forty, the first American correspondent to die in Indochina.

Publishers Weekly

Robert Capa was the archetype of the intrepid war photographer. Asserting that "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," Capa braved combat in the Spanish Civil War, hit Omaha Beach in the first wave on D-Day, and jumped behind German lines with American paratroopers, returning with visceral pictures-like the famous (and possibly staged) "falling soldier" photo of a Spanish Republican militiaman who had just been shot-that defined our idea of what modern war looks like. "Profligate, passionate, impulsive," Capa was a ladies' man who liked nice togs, hobnobbed with the rich and famous, got caught up in anti-Fascist and Popular Front politics, and played poker compulsively when he was not risking his life in combat-in other words, he practically invented the persona of the celebrity photojournalist. He also co-founded the pioneering Magnum photo agency, which gave freelance photographers ownership and control of their photos. Journalist Kershaw gives an engrossing account of Capa's impossibly romantic life, elegantly evoking both the horror of the front lines and the glamour of wartime Madrid, London and Paris, where Capa befriended the likes of Ernest Hemingway and romanced the likes of Ingrid Bergman. Packed with arresting anecdotes and character studies, Kershaw's biography is a worthy companion to Capa's work. Photos. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

As the title of this fine biography suggests, Robert Capa's life represented a curious blend of danger and glamour. One of the most highly celebrated war photographers of the century, Capa (1914-54) pioneered the role of photojournalist in combat situations while inventing his own celebrity mystique. He enjoyed the company of Hollywood stars yet in his war assignments often placed himself in the greatest mortal danger; he died at the age of 41 while covering the early years of the Indochina conflict. In this largely chronological account, journalist Kershaw provides a balanced, meticulously researched portrayal that moves from Capa's early years in Hungary to his last days in Southeast Asia; the results are vivid and refreshing. John Steinbeck and John Hersey have each published tributes to Capa, and the photographer's work has been collected in any number of well-received books. However, along with Richard Whelan's Robert Capa: A Biography, this new book is one of the very few substantive biographies available. Recommended for all photography collections.-Raymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews