cover image Magic of the Sixties

Magic of the Sixties

. Gibbs Smith Publishers, $24.95 (180pp) ISBN 978-1-58685-378-5

A photography collection's success depends as much on the text, design, layout and overall structure as it does on the quality of the photographs. Unfortunately, these elements do not coalesce in Anthony's collection of images from San Francisco in the '60s. While many of the photos are of iconic figures--Jimi Hendrix, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, to name a few--all too often the images are overwhelmed by poorly planned layout and loud design, as if everything was randomly tossed onto the page. Photos of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane are placed against a green-and-white background with purple captions, and compete (unsuccessfully) with the facing page, a hodgepodge of purple, white, green and yellow. Presumably, the purpose here is to evoke psychedelia, but the result is more akin to nausea. It's a shame, because some chapters do work, and they only serve to highlight the book's weaknesses. The chapter on demonstrations and rallies, for example, shows how effective this book could have been. It's laid out around a coherent theme and, instead of being accompanied by design chaos, the photos--depicting stern policemen and exuberant protestors--are allowed to speak for themselves. The text, which tends to push the images into the background, often comes off as naive, lacking the perspective that time generally affords. While it's understandable that Anthony would want to convey the period's excitement, his prose possesses a breathless quality that can be grating. He writes, for instance, that the hippies' ""energy became a bubbling stew of new ideas and enthusiasm that emerged as a renaissance of the human spirit.... We were rejecting the synthetic, the industrial and plastic, for the natural, organic, and the whole earth. And the magic that was used to change it all was called 'Flower Power.'"" Though this volume will stir up fond memories for some readers, others will be put off by the language and layout. 300 Photos.