From Publishers Weekly
The civil rights movement has produced enduring images, and the famous ones are collected here: separate (and unequal) white and black water fountains, police dogs on the streets of Birmingham, Martin Luther King proclaiming "I Have a Dream," Memphis strikers with their "I Am a Man" placards. As New York City photographer Kasher observes, "No other American pictures radiate so brightly a collective passion for justice." This book, which collects some 150 black-and-white photos, is indeed a history, offering many lesser-known images that also resonate. See legendary organizer Septima Clark lead older women in a citizenship class; a bespectacled Elizabeth Eckford, one of the "Little Rock Nine," walk stoically ahead of jeering white students; Julian Bond pose with fellow SNCC volunteers, seemingly too young to help change history; and a Mississippi-delta organizing house that has painted the word Freedom on a cross burned by the Klan. Kasher's chapter introductions are lucid overviews of the movement, while the captions?some of which reproduce the original, stilted wire-service captions?are also effective and informative. A moving tribute. Author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The catalog for a traveling exhibition organized by New York City-based photographer, writer, and curator Kasher, this book contains images by more than 50 photographers, whose images were borrowed from photo agencies, galleries, and private collections. Ten accompanying essays break the Civil Rights movement into chronological periods. Kasher's research, writing, and photo selection are impeccable and engaging, resulting in perhaps the strongest book yet published on this topic. He pulls the reader into a narrative that recounts and analyzes events so outrageous that one who didn't live through the period might think them impossible. What remains are feelings of deep national shame and of admiration for the courageous protesters. The book ends with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Poor People's March on Washington in 1968, far short of the end of racism in this country. Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers and chair of the NAACP, provides an eloquent foreword. Highly recommended for general collections and collections on photojournalism and photo-history, sociology and social history, political science, and African American history.?Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum Archives, BrooklynCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
In an era saturated by media, our collective memory is formed by visual images. The historical images collected here by photographer and writer Kasher in The Civil Rights Movement ($35.00; Oct. 1996; ISBN 0-7892-0123-2) are necessary reminders, in a time of white backlash, of just how bitter and bloody and heroic the battle for civil rights was. From Gordon Parks, Dan Weiner, and other photographic chroniclers of the era, we see the Little Rock Nine integrating Central High, surrounded by National Guardsmen; a policeman holding a protestor in a chokehold; buses running empty during the Montgomery bus boycott while blacks crowd the street corners waiting for rides. These aren't pretty pictures, but collectively, and with Kasher's text, they tell a central--perhaps the central--story of midcentury America. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With a far-ranging selection of striking images and a lively, cogent text, Steven Kasher captures the danger, drama, and bravery of the civil rights movement. After an introduction explaining the vital importance of photography to the movement, the book proceeds from the Montgomery bus boycott through the student, local, and national movements; the big marches in Washington and Selma; Freedom Summer; Malcolm X and Black Power; and the death of Martin Luther King. Each chapter begins with a fast-paced narrative of a crucial event in the movement, complemented by a portfolio of the most effective and evocative photographs of the subject. Ranging from the well known to the rare, these images were shot by photographers including Richard Avedon, Danny Lyon, Charles Moore, Gordon Parks, Dan Weiner, and over fifty others. Many of the pictures are accompanied by thought-provoking remembrances and analysis by various photographers and participants. A concise chronology of the major civil rights events of the period and useful suggestions for additional reading conclude this invaluable, inspiring volume.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The civil rights movement has produced enduring images, and the famous ones are collected here: separate (and unequal) white and black water fountains, police dogs on the streets of Birmingham, Martin Luther King proclaiming "I Have a Dream," Memphis strikers with their "I Am a Man" placards. As New York City photographer Kasher observes, "No other American pictures radiate so brightly a collective passion for justice." This book, which collects some 150 black-and-white photos, is indeed a history, offering many lesser-known images that also resonate. See legendary organizer Septima Clark lead older women in a citizenship class; a bespectacled Elizabeth Eckford, one of the "Little Rock Nine," walk stoically ahead of jeering white students; Julian Bond pose with fellow SNCC volunteers, seemingly too young to help change history; and a Mississippi-delta organizing house that has painted the word Freedom on a cross burned by the Klan. Kasher's chapter introductions are lucid overviews of the movement, while the captionssome of which reproduce the original, stilted wire-service captionsare also effective and informative. A moving tribute. Author tour. (Oct.)

KLIATT

Black-and-white photographs abound in this collection, and there is quite a lot of text as well; the binding and paper quality are excellent. The material is divided into the following chapters: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955; Little Rock Central High, 1957, and the University of Mississippi, 1962; Sit-ins and Freedom Rides, 1960-62; The Birmingham Movement, 1963; The March on Washington, 1963; SNCC and Mississippi, 1960-64; Selma, 1965; Black Power and the March Against Fear, 1966; The Eclipsing of Nonviolence, 1965-68. You can see just from these chapter titles that this is a serious history of the Civil Rights Movement, not just a set of gripping photographs. A great deal of detail is given in each chapter—many participants named, and often quoted; strategies described. Some photographs are those by famous photographers (Gordon Parks, Richard Avedon), and others are relatively unknown. This would be a good companion to the prize-winning video series The Eyes on the Prize because both go over the same history, but the book allows the reader to linger over descriptions and photographs. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Abbeville Press, 255p, illus, bibliog, index, 23cm, 96-4337, $27.50. Ages 13 to adult. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; November 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 6)

Library Journal

The catalog for a traveling exhibition organized by New York City-based photographer, writer, and curator Kasher, this book contains images by more than 50 photographers, whose images were borrowed from photo agencies, galleries, and private collections. Ten accompanying essays break the Civil Rights movement into chronological periods. Kasher's research, writing, and photo selection are impeccable and engaging, resulting in perhaps the strongest book yet published on this topic. He pulls the reader into a narrative that recounts and analyzes events so outrageous that one who didn't live through the period might think them impossible. What remains are feelings of deep national shame and of admiration for the courageous protesters. The book ends with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Poor People's March on Washington in 1968, far short of the end of racism in this country. Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers and chair of the NAACP, provides an eloquent foreword. Highly recommended for general collections and collections on photojournalism and photo-history, sociology and social history, political science, and African American history.-Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum Archives, Brooklyn

Kirkus Reviews