SAHEL: The End of the Road

Shot over 15 months during 1984–1985 as a horrific famine raged across sub-Saharan Africa, Salgado's documentation of the Sahel region (including parts of Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and the Sudan) was one of his first projects as he transitioned from working economist to photographer. More than 50 prizes and many books and exhibitions later, this edition brings that early work into the States in book form for the first time. Each of the 80 or so b&w shots is given a full page with generous borders; that photos of people near death are beautifully composed and printed make for just two of their paradoxes. Orville Schell argues in his foreword that "[Salgado's] strategy is to pull us into the subject with visual seduction, and then once we are enthralled—or shocked, as the case may be—to educate us about the issue at hand." With the genocide and displacement of black Africans by their Arab northern compatriots in the Sudan currently leading to serious food shortages, Salgado's book remains at the very least a relevant call to action. Portions of the profits of the book will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. (Oct.)