An inspiring biography of one of the most successful photojournalists of the 20th century, this life of Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) is exactly the type of book teachers and parents of adolescent girls are looking for. It would be a mistake to treat this as a book for girls only, however, when so many great men--Bourke-White's father, her second husband, several darkroom technicians, and even General Jimmy Doolittle, commander of the 12th Air Force in World War II--figure prominently in it as mentors, teachers, colleagues, and friends. Author Susan Goldman Rubin gracefully deals with sensitive material such as the photographer's shame at discovering that her father was Jewish. And she does a remarkable job of choosing appropriate pictures. As the chief photographer for Life magazine, Bourke-White shot many hugely important but often harsh subjects. Rubin deftly edits these images so that famous photos like the haunting Living Dead of Buchenwald, April, 1945 are here, but not such profoundly disturbing ones as Bourke-White's shot of bony corpses stacked for burning. The author underscores the photographer's extraordinary self-confidence as a young woman of huge ambitions and--beginning with Bourke-White's initial flirtation with the soft-focus style of Edward Steichen--delineates the growing power and clarity of her mature documentary style. Bourke-White's life-long interest in science--she kept jars of multilegged fauna on her office bookshelves at Life--is fascinating, and the stories of her wartime adventures--in marooned life rafts, low-flying reconnaissance planes, and torpedoed ships--are frighteningly vivid.

The photographs themselves are ultimately given pride of place, in large duotone reproductions that do them ample justice. This book would be right for anyone over 10, and older readers might go on to Sean Callahan's Margaret Bourke-White: Photographer, which is more of a traditional monograph and includes those images that tell truths so painful that Bourke-White herself had great difficulty sorting their negatives. --Peggy Moorman


From Publishers Weekly
Rubin (Frank Lloyd Wright) centers her articulate, accessible portrait of this renowned photojournalist on 56 of Bourke-White's astounding duotone photographs. The cover image, one of the few here not shot by Bourke-White, shows her perched atop a steel gargoyle protruding from the 61st story of the brand-new Chrysler Building, photographing the New York City skyline; it speaks volumes about her grit and determination to go to any length to get the perfect shot. In a narrative carefully targeted to her audience, Rubin concisely charts the evolution of the intrepid photographer's work through the architectural, industrial, advertising and reportorial phases of her career. The author paints a portrait of a strong woman full of fascinating contradictions: Bourke-White benefited from the strength of her mother but also inherited from her a transient anti-Semitism; much later, after her father's death, she learned that he was Jewish, but hid the fact from her friends and even omitted it from her autobiography. A generous amount of quotes and an extensive bibliography attests to Rubin's assiduous research. The photographer's artistry encapsulates many of the most momentous events of the century. Bourke-White chronicled the beginning of the American industrial revolution, traveled overseas during WWII on assignment from both Life magazine and the U.S. Army Air Force, and covered the Korean War; her portraits of Churchill, Stalin and Patton, which graced the cover of Life, put faces to a distant war. She makes the horror of Germany's Buchenwald concentration camp, India's 1947 Great Migration and South African apartheid shockingly real. Rubin's understated, seemingly effortless narrative will cause readers to sit up and notice that many of the images they take for granted today had their roots in the work of this daring pioneer of the 20th century. Ages 10-13. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Grade 5 Up-Bourke-White's art and career are the focus of this visually stunning book. Rubin traces the celebrated photographer's life as she moves from an early interest in science, particularly herpetology, to the field of photography at which she excelled after an early introduction in college. The author follows her subject as she progresses from an industrial photographer who somehow made steel mills and factories look poetic to her successful covers for Life magazine. The book recounts the many adventures Bourke-White had in capturing some now-famous images, as well as the fascinating people she was able to meet, including Mahatma Gandhi and Josef Stalin. Rubin also delves into Bourke-White's personal life, such as the collaboration with her future husband, author Erskine Caldwell, on their documentary You Have Seen Their Faces, among other joint ventures. Many of the various images that Bourke-White masterfully captured are beautifully reproduced in the book, so that her life and work are featured in a balanced representation. More of an art book than a biography, this title should supplement Emily Keller's Margaret Bourke-White: A Photographer's Life (Lerner, 1996).Carol Fazioli, The Brearley School, New York City Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Growing up, Bourke-White lived with the kind of courage and passion that makes her the perfect inspiration for readers of any age. Having been taught discipline from her mother and confidence from her father, she always knew that she would be successful on her own terms. In an era when career women struggled at every turn, she quickly became one of the most promising photojournalists in the country. Fearless in her quest for perfection and originality, she often risked her life to represent her subjects authentically. As one of the "Founding Four" photographers of Life magazine, she took foreign assignments during World War II, and her battlefield photos brought the horrors of war close to home for a mass audience. Besides being one of the only photographers to have sittings with Stalin, Churchill, and Patton, she also took some of the most horrifying pictures of the Holocaust. Later assignments sent her to India, South Africa, and Korea, where her heartbreaking images and writing solidified her place in history. While focusing the bulk of this text on the photographic work, Rubin does a brilliant job of bringing in personal elements that resonate with real emotion. The Holocaust photographs are all the more stirring in light of Bourke-White's own shame over a Jewish ancestry she did not learn about until adulthood. Two failed marriages and a fight with Parkinson's disease round out a life story as vivid as the rich photographs that abound throughout this book, by far one of the best biographies of the year. Roger Leslie


From Kirkus Reviews
This oversized, handsome book is an excellent introduction to one of America's great photographers and her work, which influenced generations of others who followed her craft. Rubin (Toilets, Toasters, and Telephones, 1998, etc.) covers Bourke- White's life chronologically, from her youth, when she wanted nothing more than to be a herpetologist, through her college years, when she first took a photography class, to her subsequent struggle to find her place in a largely male-dominated profession, photojournalism. By the time she was 30, Bourke-White had made her mark, and was able to earn a handsome living as she traveled the world, not only consorting with presidents and princes, but photographing some of the planet's most wretched places, including concentration camps. Some of her most powerful photographs illustrate the book, and also give an insight into era in which she earned her place as an artist. Rubin makes clear that Bourke-White's reputation continues to grow, providing researchers and browsers alike with a warm, admiring glimpse of a woman and her times. (notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-13) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


From the Publisher
This dramatic life story of internationally ac claimed photographer Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) traces the accomplishments of a remarkable woman, the first female to make a name for herself as a photojournalist. The book explores her artistic development and chronicles the assignments for Fortune and LIFE magazines that took her all over the world as she fearlessly risked her life to get her story and tell it through pictures. Illustrated with more than 50 of Bourke-White's black-and-white photographs, and including new research based on interviews with those who knew her, this adventure-packed account will serve as an inspiration for everyone who dreams of realizing a cherished ambition. 56 black-and-white photographs, 96 pages, 933/4 x 10" Advertising: New York Times Book Review Susan Goldman Rubin has written many books for young people, including Abrams' Frank Lloyd Wright. She lives in Malibu, California.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This dramatic life story of internationally ac claimed photographerMargaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) traces the accomplishments of a remarkable woman, the first female to make a name for herself as a photojournalist. The book explores her artistic development and chronicles the assignments for Fortune and LIFE magazines that took her all over the world as she fearlessly risked her life to get her story and tell it through pictures. Illustrated with more than 50 of Bourke-White's black-and-white photographs, and including new research based on interviews with those who knew her, this adventure-packed account will serve as an inspiration for everyone who dreams of realizing a cherished ambition.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Rubin (Frank Lloyd Wright) centers her articulate, accessible portrait of this renowned photojournalist on 56 of Bourke-White's astounding duotone photographs. The cover image, one of the few here not shot by Bourke-White, shows her perched atop a steel gargoyle protruding from the 61st story of the brand-new Chrysler Building, photographing the New York City skyline; it speaks volumes about her grit and determination to go to any length to get the perfect shot. In a narrative carefully targeted to her audience, Rubin concisely charts the evolution of the intrepid photographer's work through the architectural, industrial, advertising and reportorial phases of her career. The author paints a portrait of a strong woman full of fascinating contradictions: Bourke-White benefited from the strength of her mother but also inherited from her a transient anti-Semitism; much later, after her father's death, she learned that he was Jewish, but hid the fact from her friends and even omitted it from her autobiography. A generous amount of quotes and an extensive bibliography attests to Rubin's assiduous research. The photographer's artistry encapsulates many of the most momentous events of the century. Bourke-White chronicled the beginning of the American industrial revolution, traveled overseas during WWII on assignment from both Life magazine and the U.S. Army Air Force, and covered the Korean War; her portraits of Churchill, Stalin and Patton, which graced the cover of Life, put faces to a distant war. She makes the horror of Germany's Buchenwald concentration camp, India's 1947 Great Migration and South African apartheid shockingly real. Rubin's understated, seemingly effortless narrative will cause readers to sit up and notice that many of the images they take for granted today had their roots in the work of this daring pioneer of the 20th century. Ages 10-13. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal