The Ninja Reader

It's a well known fact that if you want to pull on heartstrings, you focus on the single person, not the wide picture.This book shows how doing the former can really change lives. The picture "Migrant Mother" has not only been one of the images that define the Great Depression, it also moved public opinion so that the government might send food to the pea collectors' camp where it was first taken. While the story of the woman in the picture may not have been the same as that of countless other people during the period, their current situation was very much the same.This book is a great example of how to use images to tell a story. While the text accompanying them is not groundbreaking, the photographs are. The images encompass the whole feel of the period, not just the poverty, but the feelings of those who were not as badly as the rest. Every gesture, every look, every line is spot-on, and it makes this book a truly amazing experience to read.Note: A copy of this book was provided by the publishers via NetGalley for this review's purposes.