About the Author

Ferdinand Protzman is an award-winning writer, culture critic, and contributing editor to Art News magazine. He is the author of Landscape- Photographs of Time and Place (2003), Wide Angle- National Geographic Greatest Places (2005) and Love (2008). His essays, reviews, and features have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, and The Harvard Review.

Reviews

"...the vivid images showcase the grit and glory of the grind." —People

"...the vivid images showcase the grit and glory of the grind." People

Under the unifying theme of labor, writer and cultural critic Protzman (Wide Angle: National Geographic's Greatest Places) has collected 190 large, lush photographs from National Geographic's archives and other major collections of people at work around the world. The book documents an incredible variety of "occupations"-from gold miners in South Africa to air-traffic controllers in the United States; from salt-mine workers in Ukraine to snake charmers in India; from a geisha talking on a cell phone in Japan to a broom merchant in Syria; and from a welder in Washington to a timber poacher on the Ivory Coast. Organized by geographical regions (i.e., "Europe," "Asia," "Africa," "Islands," "The Middle East," and "The Americas"), the book features work by 80 internationally celebrated photographers such as Lewis Hine, Sam Abel, Sebastiao Salgado, and Edward Burtynsky. These frank, inspirational, sobering, and humorous photographs are as diverse as the regions in which they were shot. Also featured are three "Portfolios" on agriculture, extraction, and manufacturing. Recommended for all collections.-Shauna Frischkorn, Millersville Univ., PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.