Photos That Made U.S. History

Each of these two eye-opening books focuses on seven photographs that represent critical moments in American history. In the introduction (which is repeated in both volumes), the authors identify four crucial elements of ``history-making'' photos: the event, the image, the effect and the photographer. Each photo, reproduced in occasionally muddied black-and-white, is accompanied by a cogent, chapter-long examination of these four aspects. The Wakins not only recreate the moment the photo was shot, but also offer background information on the subject as well as the photographer, and place the documented event in historical context. Among the highlights are Lewis Hine's trenchant shots of early-20th-century child laborers; Joe Rosenthal's celebrated picture of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945; and astronaut William A. Anders's momentous photo of the earth ``rising'' over the surface of the moon. A number of the images are deeply unsettling--for example, a police dog lunging at a young civil rights demonstrator in Birmingham in 1963, and terrified, wounded South Vietnamese children fleeing napalm bombs. Together, these volumes present a dynamic, if necessarily spotty, history lesson which--largely due to the immeasurable visual impact of these remarkable photos--leaves a lasting impression. Ages 10-up. (Nov.)