In this book, the author presents never-before-published photos and captions from Dorothea Lange's fieldwork in 1939. Lange's images of stark landscapes, farmers and squatter camps are stunning, but her captions are what add depth, bringing explanations of settings to notes and biographical sketches. When Lange was dismissed from the FSA (Farm Security Administration) at the end of 1939, these photos and field notes were archived. Now, the author returns them to the public eye, importantly setting them in the context of Lange's life, work and struggle for critical recognition.
I found this to be a fascinating book. It's a great opportunity to see Lange's work, but it's especially interesting when you're able to read Lange's own field notes and really understand the context of what she was doing and what these people were going through. I appreciated that the author included a lot of background information on Lange's work for the FSA and it's clear that Lange's boss found her to be a "difficult woman," probably because she wanted to control her own photography (especially the printing of her proofs). On p. 35, the author writes "Lange was a complex individual: outspoken, demanding, sometimes commanding, both self-confident and self-deprecating, passionately committed to people, ideas, and causes, generous, supportive, and loyal, a mentor to many, a colleague to peers."
I enjoyed learning about this period in history, and people like the settlers in the Pacific Northwest, where the lumber industry found "the practice of cutting and abandoning was financially most attractive," and which left areas of stumpland during the 1930s (called "cutover land"). Lange photographed one family, who spent their first year clearing trees and stumps, and considered themselves lucky because other locations within a mile of their new home were free of frost for only one month a year or had sandy, infertile soil. It's hard to imagine people taking out all of these stumps by hand (or, if they were lucky enough to have a bulldozer) and how difficult it was for them to make a life for themselves and survive. I was struck by many of the quotes that Lange wrote down from people, like this one, from a man who brought his family to northern Idaho from Kansas (Dust Bowl) --- "I knew it was a lot of work when I came here, but I wouldn't know where else to go. This is the only place I could see where I could get a start again." There is a lot to be said for these people who toughened it out; many people today can't imagine a life life this.
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