Soviets: Pictures from the End of the USSR: Amazon.ca: Mr. Shepard Sherbell: Books

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From Library Journal

A vast society, long in collapse, officially shattered when the Soviet Union was dismantled in the early 1990s. Sherbell, an award-winning documentary photographer, spent three years capturing that extended moment of cultural change. Here, 230 of his intense black-and-white images detail discomfort, agony, and closely held hope. Most of the photographs depict a hard reality; encased in a landscape colored by shades of gray, people are dominated by ironworks and cracked statues, isolated by deep snows and cement expanses, and wearied by scarce goods and bruising labor. But Sherbell proves himself to be a keen humorist as well. Several key images such as a fire hose poked through a door; a woman suspended above Siberia's summer mud in her home, made from a renovated gas tank; and a Kilroyesque bust of Lenin provide necessary comic relief, just as the many photographs of people expressing all kinds of feelings solidify the presence of an active human spirit. This expansive collection, unique in its range and artistic vision, is recommended for all libraries. Rebecca Miller, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* For three years (1991-93), photographer Sherbell, working for the German magazine Der Spiegel, canvased the Soviet Union for images of a society that many sensed was about to change drastically. Although his pictures reach American eyes 8 to 10 years later, that doesn't diminish their impact at all. All done in black and white, they are gray and grim, raw and rueful, lightened only occasionally by a smile, a celebration, a moment of prayer. Displayed thematically in chapters on everyday life, work, religious practice, imprisonment, coal and oil production, "Magnitka" (the largest, most polluting steelworks in the world), and change as Communism collapsed, they appear mostly at near-monumental scale, bled to the edges of 13-inch-tall pages. Reflecting the realities of most Soviet citizens, they are full of dilapidated mass housing, antiquated industrial facilities, barren shops, and hard manual labor. Sherbell tersely describes the situation and import of each picture in notes at the ends of the chapters, disclosing such frightening facts behind the images as that half the imprisoned are alcoholics and 40 percent of teenage prisoners come from fatherless families, that the environmental damage wreaked by the huge Sakhalin Island oil fields during 70 years' operation may require 80 years to repair even minimally, and that life expectancy in many parts of the old union was only 50 years when the pictures were made. The last sentence in the book asks, "Will this ever become a 'normal country'?" Unfortunately, the jury is still out on that question. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible B&W photography, Sep 23 2002

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cara tremblay (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soviets: Pictures from the End of the USSR (Hardcover)

The pictures are elegant even if the subject isn't. Very beautiful book. Know that the book is not intended to show you all aspects of life in Soviet Russia. It focuses more on the downside of life.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing portrait of a vanished world, Feb 16 2002

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Terence G. Phillips - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Soviets: Pictures from the End of the USSR (Hardcover)

Whether or not you ever visited the Soviet Union in its dying days, Shepard Sherbell's photographs will grab you. His images of that moribund nation reveal the darkest secrets of the U.S.S.R. Those of us who lived through those final moments will recognize the chilling faces of a great power in demise. The crumbling buildings, cracking monuments and crushed spirits of a once-mighty state are beautifully portrayed in this book. It's an eyewitness to a land of infinite impossibilities.

Make no mistake: THE SOVIETS is not another collection of snapshots from Red Square and the Bolshoi Theater. Instead, its pages are populated with glimpses into the real life of that now-extinct country. Unless you'd lived there, this is a side of the Soviet Union you probably never saw.

Brace yourself.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Visual Feast, Jan 8 2002

By

Christopher Morris (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soviets: Pictures from the End of the USSR (Hardcover)

Sherbell is a master of his craft. He takes the reader on a virtual tour of the former Soviet Union. This talented photographer manages to convey the personality and texture of a complex country and period of history with sensitivity and wit.

"Soviets" is a book that is best savoured one page at a time. The photographs are matched only by the text which, unlike many photography books, adds another level to the work. This is a book that could be placed in the history section of any library as easily as photography.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A MEMORABLE AND TALENTED PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENT
One can always tell looking at a book if the photographer was just a "tourist" in the area, on a brief assignment from a magazine, or if he really "lived" in... Read more

Published on Dec 9 2001 by Mikhail Evstafiev

5.0 out of 5 stars Starkly Beautiful Images
Having traveled in Russia during the Soviet era, I believe that Sherbell, in words and images, has captured the essence of the latter stages of the Empire. Read more

Published on Nov 4 2001 by William M. Brodhead