Book Description
There has never been another period of time to compare with the last 100 years. From the Auto Age to the Computer Age, from Lucky Lindy to a man walking on the moon, our world has been an endless wellspring of unparalleled drama. Using their trademark brilliant photography and informative writing, the editors of Life have assembled a fascinating, engrossing volume that captures the happenings and the characters who have fleshed out this saga, names that will live through the ages: FDR and JFK, the Babe and Elvis, Einstein and Martin Luther King. And, of course, the likes of Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. This is a volume certain to entertain today and for generations to come.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2007-01-09
I purchased this book as a Christmas present for my uncle and aunt. They are both retired, and love to read. They immediately opened it up, and lots of wonderful family memories came into the conversation. It now sits on their coffee table.
Some dubious choices, but fun to look at.......2006-08-28
"100 Events" might better be titled, "100 20th century mostly-American events that LIFE has pictures of." Nothing wrong with that of course, but it would make for a more accurate title.
The book unfolds in classic LIFE format, with full page and double-page layouts of famous events. Some are truly momentous and have potential world-wide historical impact. The discovery of the structure of DNA will affect the way human beings heal, diagnose and even propagate. Dr. Christian Barnard's first heart transplant in 1967 also changed the way we see the human body - less as a unity than as an array of interchangeable parts. The dropping of the atomic bomb dramatically changed the nature of warfare and the way that all nations must learn to relate. And the walk on the moon in 1969 was a technical achievement that truly did astound the world and perhaps even paved the way for an end to the Cold War.
But Marilyn Monroe modeling a bikini? The Yankees acquiring Babe Ruth? Louis Armstrong? Madonna? The U2 Incident? Even the 1969 Woodstock music festival is a questionable choice.
Whatever.
The pictures are fun to look at. The events may spur debate. Which 100 would you choose? LIFE could have done worse.
Every Picture Tells A Story.......2006-02-03
There is a shot of Hitler primping in his open car before an adoring crowd, just soaking up the adulation. There is three-mile island ominously sitting in the dark with red lights (like Christmas lights) outlining it, and perhaps previewing the nuclear meltdown that occurred there in the late 70's. There is Dolly, the cloned sheep, looking at herself in the mirror, as amazed as we were at that time. There is a young Fidel Castro screaming into the microphone as he took over Cuba. There is the bus load of passengers reading about the Kennedy assassination at the same time, the disturbing headlines all facing the camera. These are just samplings of the great work that Life did.
Life was good at taking the right photographs at the right time.
This book is a good one, even if you only look at the pictures.
Amazon.com
Richard Stolley knows a bit about what we want from the pictures of our century. He's the LIFE magazine guy who acquired the Zapruder film of JFK being shot (the fatal instant is depicted in this book), and he basically created modern celebrity culture as the founding father of People, where he articulated his famous rules for cover photos: young is better than old, pretty better than ugly, rich better than poor--"and nothing is better than the celebrity dead." All of the above are found abundantly in Stolley and Tony Chiu's lively, cannily selected, and sumptuously produced photo album LIFE: Our Century in Pictures.
It's not just a grab bag of 770 arresting, touching, scary, funny, alternately famous and unfamiliar images. It tells a semi-coherent story by breaking up the century into nine "epochs," each introduced with a brief essay by a leading intellectual light (David M. Kennedy, Paul Fussell, and Garry Wills do especially well). There are fun facts aplenty: did you know Columbia Pictures' Lady Liberty-like logo was inspired by a debutante in an anti-Hun propaganda poster? Or that Ike almost chose Margaret Chase Smith instead of Nixon? Each epoch gets assigned a "Turning Point," sometimes a defining moment or a flashy burst of upbeat cultural documentary to offset the sometimes stark violent-event photos. The World War I section breaks up the black-and-white trench-fighting scenes with a quickie history of the American musical, pages as radiant as a rainbow. Each chapter ends with "Requiem" photos of people whose passing is still news.
The layouts are often superb: you have to open the book to see how perfect a Mondrian looks next to a photo of college girls doing patriotic calisthenics that transform them into a similarly energetic grid. There are heftier historic-photo collections, like Bruce Bernard's true test of coffee-table construction, the 1,120-page Century: One Hundred Years of Human Progress, Regression, Suffering, and Hope. But you're not going to find a more popular book of its kind than Stolley and Chiu's. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
Selected from the photographic archives of LIFE and other major collections, these spellbinding images bring alive the people and events that shaped the twentieth century. With incredible emotional impact, this book captures the triumphs and disasters, the social progress and setbacks, the heroes and villains that have brought us to the dawn of a new century.
Customer Reviews:
A great treasure trove.......2007-05-20
This massive coffeetable book does exactly what it sets out to do: photographically chronicle the 20th century, showcasing the famous and the not-so-famous. Along with familiar images such as the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, the Buddhist monk immolating himself, the sailor kissing the woman in Times Square on V-J Day, the kneeling girl screaming over the body of one of the Kent State dead, and the man facing down the tanks in Tiananmen Square, there are lesser-known images such as Soviet soldiers leaving Afghanistan in 1989, an alternate scene of a flag-raising at Iwo Jima, a very young Dick Clark sitting among the chart-topping records of 1957, old men lining up to get their social security benefits, and a Muslim groom and Christian bride picking their way through the rubble of Beirut on their way to crossing the Green Line so they could reach her church and get married.
Instead of dividing the book up by decades, it goes by historical era--1900-13, 1914-19, 1920-29, 1930-39, 1940-45, 1946-63, 1964-75, 1976-92, and 1993-99. After all, more often than not things from the previous era are still influencing a new decade, such as how the Seventies were by and large a continuation of the Sixties instead of an entirely new era. Each chapter begins with a short essay by a prominent historian, and each features a "Turning Point" section, focusing on subjects such as space travel, discovering our prehistoric ancestors, closing the gender gap, outlaws, bandits, and mobsters, civil rights, and the conquest of the atom. Each chapter ends with a requiem, highlighting some of the prominent people who passed away during that era. In addition to the usual suspects such as James Dean, Thomas Edison, Amelia Earhart, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Charlie Chaplin, and Susan B. Anthony, there are also some lesser-known personalities, such as Albert Woolson (the last surviving Civil War vet), Martha the passenger pigeon (the last of her kind as well), Sen. Cornelius Cole (the last surviving person who voted in President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial), Aimee Semple McPherson (the now-largely-forgotten evangelist who faked her own kidnapping in the Twenties), and James Naismith (the inventor of basketball).
This is a great book for all those who are interested in 20th century history, and many of the images are bound to bring back memories the readers, whether they were born in the early century, at mid-century, in the later decades of the century, or anywhere in between. (Although it should be noted that some of the pictures are a bit disturbing and graphic and might upset children or even some adults, such as the ones on page 8 and page 178.) One wishes the book were even longer and had been able to include even more images of the past century; there were a couple of events and images I was rather surprised to see excluded, such as the killing fields of Pol Pot's Cambodia, the Armenian Genocide, the fiery end to the stand-off in Waco, the disastrous U.S. excursion into Somalia, the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics, and the war in Bosnia. Still, in a book this size, one can't expect absolutely everything to be included, and all of the images that are included are stupendous.
Amazing!.......2006-10-17
I first noticed this book in fourth grade, as my teacher liked collecting interesting books. I ended up reading it cover-to-cover about 6 times. I am a major fan of history, and always have been. I am in the seventh grade now, and when we talk about things in history class, some of the beautiful pictures still come back to me. I also really like how the written part of the chapters are written by authors like Avi. This falls in the class of my "most favorite books of all time," including the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card, The Breadwinner, and any and all E.L. Koningsburg books. A great read!
It's a family favorite!.......2006-08-17
I bought this book for my 85+ year old mother in law for Christmas 2005. She loved it so much, she later asked me to help her find one for a close family friend. A few weeks later, her sister Corrine came to visit, and they poured over the pictures in her copy of the book - "remembering when" they had seen this or that. They especially loved the pics of San Francisco in 1940's when they were young and going clubbing. I later ordered (yet) another copy for Aunt Corrine's 87th birthday - and she just loved it! It's so hard to buy gifts for someone over 80 - this is a sure fire hit!
A scrapbook of the century..........2003-11-11
Life has done a superb job of pulling the whole century together into one book.I wont't tell you what picture was the first picture the started the book off with.But I'll tell you this;they got it right! This in not only the most important and best picture of the 20th century, but also; the most significient picture to portray what man has done;ever.Check out the book and see if you don't agree.
It must have have been a difficult,but rewarding, task to decide what to include and what had to be sacrificed.Everyone must have their favorite pictures of the century and will find many of them in the book.A very good balance was made between text and pictures.
An excellent book to have or to give as a gift regardless of r age.
A scrapbook of the century..........2003-11-11
Life has done a superb job of pulling the whole century together into one book.I wont't tell you what picture was the first picture the started the book off with.But I'll tell you this;they got it right! This in not only the most important and best picture of the 20th century, but also; the most significient picture to portray what man has done;ever.Check out the book and see if you don't agree.
It must have have been a difficult,but rewarding, task to decide what to include and what had to be sacrificed.Everyone must have their favorite pictures of the century and will find many of them in the book.A very good balance was made between text and pictures.
An excellent book to have or to give as a gift regardless of age.
There are other similar books;but none better.What else would you expect from TIME!
Amazon.com
The 20th century began with the invention of Kodak's Brownie camera and the first flight by the Wright brothers and ended with Nelson Mandela's return to political power and the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., Mother Teresa, and Princess Diana. And who better to pictorially recount the events of this epoch than Life magazine? Divided not by decade, but by nine historical clusters of years (1900-13, 1914-19, 1920-29, 1930-39, 1940-45, 1946-63, 1964-75, 1976-92, 1993-99), this photographic chronicle brings to life the amazing, horrifying, poignant, and thrilling moments that made up a century. Each chapter is introduced with an essay by a distinguished children's writer, including Jane Yolen, Avi, Gary Paulsen, Patrick and Fredrick McKissack, and Lois Lowry, and includes special sections called "Turning Points," which trace a trend or event from the beginning to the end of the century. Concluding each chapter are "Requiems," in which the lives of important people who died during those years are recalled. But it's the more than 380 remarkable photographs from Life magazine's archives that make this volume truly epic. Young readers who spent only a few years in the previous century will look with awe and wonder at the pictures taken during their parents' and grandparents' time, telling about Woodstock, the Holocaust, Babe Ruth, Bill Gates, the discovery of atomic power, and Sigmund Freud. From politics to art to technology to science to social change, this book touches on it all, and will be a tremendous resource for years to come. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter
Book Description
Drawing from LIFE magazine and the greatest photo archives of our time, this book chronicles the past one hundred years by way of an unparalleled collection of photos. The book spans the twentieth century in nine epochs, individually introduced by essays from notable childrens writers including Jane Yolen, Avi, Jerry Spinelli and others. Features in each section is a description of an event or trend that began during that time. The worlds of politics, science and technology, and the arts, as well as the lives we led at home and at workall are explored and captured brilliantly within these pages.
Customer Reviews:
Our Century In Picture.......2005-03-21
I think this book is a great book for kids who really would like to learn about Americas past time. It gives you detailed information about are Nation times and the up's and downs. I learned lot from this book and it has a good twist from most books.
Best 20th Century Book for young people I've Seen........2003-05-24
I have purchased a variety of coffee table books for my exploratory/ information center at school. This is the best I've found about the 20th Century. I can easily use this for my students to show them the world of the 20th century. Especially appropriate for middle school students and higher grade elementary students. High school students could use it as well.
Best 20th Century Book for young people I've Seen........2003-05-24
I have purchased a variety of coffee table books for my exploratory/ information center at school. This is the best I've found about the 20th Century. I can easily use this for my students to show them the world of the 20th century. Especially appropriate for middle school students and higher grade elementary students. High school students could use it as well.
WOW.......2000-12-27
I received this book as a gift and was astonished by how great it actually is. It has so many wonderful pictures from the past 100 years and I feel that they explain every picture well enough so you can understand how in that time things were. I would suggest this to not just young people but to everyone so they can too learn more about the last century.
Life: Our Century in Pictures for young people.......2000-12-26
I thought that this was a very goood book and that it has many very neat pictures. I received it as a gift and looked at it all day because the pictures and stories behind them. I think that if you want to learn more about the past century then this is the book for you.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of Great Photos.......2000-05-01
Hundreds of great pictures, but skip the text. The writing is no more than typical bland captioning, with no insight and absolutely nothing provocative or controversial. Very middle-of-the-road approach to Film History. I expected better from Time-Life, but the photos still earn the book 5 stars.
Book Description
Do we love movies more than God? Have we compromised God's standard by letting Hollywood assault our minds and hearts with sensuality? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8
Customer Reviews:
Very good advice for families.......2006-06-09
If Christians enjoys watching movies, then the question is whether "Christians are guilty of collaboration" (p. 13). Does a Christian who pays ten dollars in order to enjoy a good movie work jointly with "a glamorous, global, ubiquitous force for the corruption of souls"? (p. 12) Wayne Wilson, a pastor of a Faith Bible Church in Southern California with a television degree from Columbia media college in Chicago, addresses the above problem and presents "four basic positions" (p. 57) and offers historical support for each position.
Wilson writes, "The first view is the oldest: don't go... Period" (p. 58). Tertullian (160-230 A.D.) supports the first solution, Avoidance, and writes, "You have the theater forbidden, then, in the forbidding of immodesty" (p. 27); modesty demands the boycott of movies. The second position, Silence, "is the easiest: don't talk about it" (p. 60). John Wesley (1703-91) states, "I am not obliged to pass any sentence on those that are otherwise minded. I leave them to their own Master" (p. 40); let the Lord do the talking. Engagement is the third view which commands us to "immerse ourselves in the experience of those around us" (p. 61). Christians in the Middle Age (800-1200) "developed mystery plays and morality plays which sought to communicate Christian morals through a rough-and-tumble style" (p. 33); watch movies and make better ones. The fourth and last position, High Standards, where "Christians should hold the arts to a clear standard of morality in order to justify Christian patronage" (p. 64). For example, Postmaster Will Hayes "published a movie code, endorsed by film producers in March 1930, which stated, 'No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it'" (p. 44).
The author then presents very clear examples of how a Christian might navigate his or her way through the movie industry. Wilson clarifies his reasons for supporting the fourth position, High Standards: "people obviously have had to confront the entertainment question" (p. 66). He shows why there is "bad language" in movies even though no one likes it (pp. 147-52). And he teaches us how to examine movies by telling us to watch out for "an evil message" delivered by "evil methods" (p. 171). An evil message is known to Christians as "idolatry" (p. 178) and clever, evil methods deliver the message "as a big lie... wrapped up in a beautiful package" (p. 182). Thus, worldly amusements show us artificial, man-made things with bright lights, crisp sounds systems, smooth acting, and revealing costumes.
In "Worldly Amusements" Wilson examines a set of movies (chapters 10-14), gives expert advice to parents, men, women, young people and ministers (c. 16), and makes an excellent suggestion for the folks in Hollywood: "Why not produce 5 to 10 percent of your movies under the old code?" (p. 282). I know that I would go to those movies.
Worldly Amusements has very good information for Christians who enjoy movies, a movie index, Scripture index, and a helpful bibliography. A good book for family members and friends who enjoy watching movies on Saturdays and praying in church on Sundays.
Worldly Amusements.......2005-10-22
Wayne Wilson has provided a useful tool for Christians who desire to please God in every area of their lives. Wilson does not merely rant and rave against the Hollywood entertainment industry. He gives Biblical principles, helpful examples and well-reasoned arguments that will help believers to determine the kinds of entertainment that will prove beneficial for the spiritual welfare of their family. Good job Mr. Wilson!
Rage against the machine!!.......2003-09-07
The media is not a gray area as many Christians want to believe. There is a verse in 1 John which calls us to "not love the world". This book beckons us in a definite way to heed this call. There are in fact standards that need to be maintained. We are willing though, to compromise those standards and dig through the filth of most of the entertainment industry to find the one grain of truth. As the author, Wayne Wilson says, "Christian groups lavish praise on and even hand out awards to films that give any kind of approving nod to Christian beliefs, even if the film grossly violates any sense of decency in telling the story. That's how pitiful we have become. We are dogs begging crumbs of acceptance from the wrong table. I don't believe we need to be quite so desperate for the praise of the world that we forsake our Master's standards..." (pg 281)
Another reviewer wrote that the author wrote too much about Franky Schaeffer. There are two chapters where Pastor Wilson does write quite a bit about and against Schaeffer (son of Francis). This is because Shaeffer comes from the "anything goes if you can toss a 'redeeming' feature into the story somewhere" point of view(pg 250). Many Christians have this view. But what would Christ say? "Question: what do you think Jesus would say on the set of ___ ___ when the director tells the actors to disrobe? My guess is He would not say: 'It has a moral theme ladies, really.' I doubt He would compliment the director for his 'unblinking' portrayal of real life." (pg 224)
He also uses the movie the Titanic a lot as an example. This is because it was the most popular movie at the time that this book was written. He breaks it down and shows why a follower of Christ should not see this movie. Many Christians did and did not see anything wrong with it. There were movies that we used to watch that we thought were ok because we thought we could "handle" it. But we realized that our thinking was all wrong. We should not say, "that doesn't bother me" but "should this bother me?" Does it bother God?
You would think Mr. Wilson is just "cursing the darkness" and he is on one hand. But at the same time he is not against all movie watching. Neither is he just for poorly made "Christian" movies. He is all for good quality movies as long as they do not offend the One we say we love more than those films .
This is a book about changing the standards that we have come up with via our own deceitful heart, and forming standards that come from God's word. "The heart is deceitful above all things..... " (Jer. 17:9). It's so easy to love the world. You are thought of as a legalistic fundamentalist pietistic if you do not. Aren't we as Christians called to be different? Instead of loving ourselves and the things of the world we love Christ who bought us at a price. We will be different and look odd if we begin to evaluate movies and television with a standard that God has set forth for us in his Word. It is not easy to follow Christ. That he why He says we need to "take up our cross and follow Him." He also tells us that we will be persecuted if we choose to follow Him and if that means looking weird because we don't watch the same movies as everyone else then so be it. This book clearly and accurately helps us redefine a standard that comes straight from the Bible. It's time to reevaluate our hearts and our love for the media. Thank Mr. Wilson for standing up for truth and for helping us to think more clearly on this very important issue.
Manipulative propoganda........2002-07-31
This book is faulty at its best. Besides the fact that it is speaking on a gray area of the Bible as if the author's opinion was fact, (requirements for "sound, wholesome entertainment" are not found in the Bible) it is one-sided. Avoid at all costs. It's books like this that make the general public think we as Christians have gone off the deep end. But on the other hand, if you had a lot of fun burning books from the "Harry Potter" series, this is a book for you!
Excellent, Bold Exhortation.......2002-02-11
Reverend Wilson is a bold and passionate man of God who is jealous for godliness and purity in his family, church and society. I pray for more heads of household and clergy with his backbone! I agree with the author's basic premises i.e., the necessity of submission to Christ's Lordship in our movie viewing; and that the moral decadence so pervasive in our society (Hollywood included) is the fault of Christians. We have been given a cultural mandate and have retreated from it. I agree that if Christians stopped supporting Hollywood's paganism, it would change overnight. But how much more it would
change if Christians actively worked in film to promote true beauty - God's holiness, majesty, and salvation! I was disappointed that Mr. Wilson seems to endorse the popular evangelical view that things will only get worse.
Hollywood, (like politics or education) will never produce what is godly until Christians apply the Lordship of Christ to
these areas. We need to support churches and Christian organizations that are dedicated to pressing Christ's crown rights into the arts. While I was encouraged deeply by Mr. Wilson's passion for purity in the hearts and minds of the saints,I was disappointed by his constant criticism of the
Schaeffers who just happen to have more of an "engagement view". (See chapter 4) I would have been more encouraged had there been more optimism about the future of the arts as Christians fulfill the cultural mandate in this area. As Christians we have more than just a responsiblity to watch movies that encourage our sanctification. We need to be proactive in the arts and support those who make movies that spread and celebrate the gospel of our glorious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then we will see not only high art, but a world where the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
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