From Publishers Weekly
Thompson in 1937 came from the Milwaukee Journal to New York City and the newborn Time Inc. picture weekly, Life, served as managing editor for 20 of its glory years and was eased out when TV began to suck the spirit from general magazines. This matter-of-fact memoir recalls the productive genius and testy temperaments of star photographers such as Alfred Eisenstadt and W. Eugene Smith, the internal rivalry among editors and the almost flighty management style of owner Henry Luce. There are no sensational revelations here. Thompson describes his North Dakota boyhood and wartime army intelligence days and reports from the catbird seat on exactly how Life went about showing its readers the world--rushing air-sea rescue film cross-country overnight to beat a deadline; pestering Truman, MacArthur and the Duke of Windsor for their memoirs; photographing in depth such subjects as the American ``career girl,'' the then-pioneering space program, life in a small Spanish town and mega-projects such as The World We Live In--all with a strong sense of history in color and black-and-white and with the Time-Life conviction ``We're the best!'' Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Thompson grew up in North Dakota and had his first taste of photojournalism at the Milwaukee Journal. Perhaps it was this beginning that made him so skillful at producing the sort of images that America wanted to see in LIFE magazine. As managing editor and then editor of LIFE for almost 20 years, Thompson helped to shape a publication that itself helped define an important period of our country's history. After retirement from LIFE, Thompson went on to found and edit Smithsonian magazine. Written with humor and verve, this is a good addition to journalism or popular culture collections.?Rebecca Wondriska, Trinity Coll. Lib., Hartford, Conn.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Coming from a small town in North Dakota, Thompson began his love affair with photojournalism as the picture-page editor at the Milwaukee Journal. He joined Life in 1937 and stayed there - except for a few years in the military during World War II - for thirty years. After his retirement, and at the behest of S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, he founded Smithsonian magazine and was its publisher and editor for ten years. Because Thompson's career of five decades coincided with cataclysmic historical events, he guided some of the most fascinating journalistic projects of his day: Life followed NASA's astronauts and their wives through each training and flight until they landed on the moon; serializations led to personal encounters with Harry S. Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Ernest Hemingway, and Winston Churchill. Through Thompson's years, Life and Smithsonian drew the best and the brightest staff from all over the world. Thompson describes his working relationships with several of this century's most famous photographers and writers, among them Alfred Eisenstaedt, W. Eugene Smith, Margaret Bourke-White, Theodore H. White, and Robert Capa. He also describes his relationships with Time Inc. editor-in-chief Henry Luce and his wife, Clare Boothe Luce.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Thompson in 1937 came from the Milwaukee Journal to New York City and the newborn Time Inc. picture weekly, Life, served as managing editor for 20 of its glory years and was eased out when TV began to suck the spirit from general magazines. This matter-of-fact memoir recalls the productive genius and testy temperaments of star photographers such as Alfred Eisenstadt and W. Eugene Smith, the internal rivalry among editors and the almost flighty management style of owner Henry Luce. There are no sensational revelations here. Thompson describes his North Dakota boyhood and wartime army intelligence days and reports from the catbird seat on exactly how Life went about showing its readers the world-rushing air-sea rescue film cross-country overnight to beat a deadline; pestering Truman, MacArthur and the Duke of Windsor for their memoirs; photographing in depth such subjects as the American ``career girl,'' the then-pioneering space program, life in a small Spanish town and mega-projects such as The World We Live In-all with a strong sense of history in color and black-and-white and with the Time-Life conviction ``We're the best!'' Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)

Library Journal

Thompson grew up in North Dakota and had his first taste of photojournalism at the Milwaukee Journal. Perhaps it was this beginning that made him so skillful at producing the sort of images that America wanted to see in LIFE magazine. As managing editor and then editor of LIFE for almost 20 years, Thompson helped to shape a publication that itself helped define an important period of our country's history. After retirement from LIFE, Thompson went on to found and edit Smithsonian magazine. Written with humor and verve, this is a good addition to journalism or popular culture collections.-Rebecca Wondriska, Trinity Coll. Lib., Hartford, Conn.

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