Going Legit....

I never thought that when I started writing this blog that it would actually start to pay for itself. That was never my intent, but I must be doing something right, because that is what folks are starting to do.

I got an e-mail a few months ago from a publishing company called Turner Publishing. They indicated that they were willing to send me a copy of one of their latest books for free if I would review it in my blog. I sort of wondered if this was legit, but I figured I had nothing to loose, so I wrote back to the company and said sure, send me the book. Sure enough, 5 days later it showed up in the mail, and it is a 'nice book'. Hard cover on glossy paper. So without further delay, here is my review of "Historic Photographs Of Phoenix" published by Turner Publishing.


I liked this book because it deals with subjects that interest me, so in that regard I am a bit biased. I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I love photography so this is a match made in heaven. Add to the mix, the fact that Phoenix is a pretty 'young' city that does not have a lot of history or culture and a book of old pictures from the city's past makes for some interesting reading.


While the book covers a good portion of the history of Phoenix, it does seem a bit limited in its scope. There are segments of the history of this city that are left out or only slightly touched upon. Most of the photography deals with the history of Phoenix from 1890 through the early 1950s. During this time period, Phoenix was still a relatively small town. It grew considerably during the Second World War, and then really took off in the late 1950s and 1960. It is now the 5th largest metropolitan city in the United States. That is a lot of growth in a very short period of time. This book covers little of the time period from 1960 through 1980, when most of that growth took place.


The other thing I discovered that limits it's scope is the fact that all of the pictures are from public archives. The Phoenix Public Library and the Arizona Historical Society to be exact. Which means they are in the public domain. All the author did was go to these two sources, pay the copyright fees, do limited research and publish the results. There does not appear to be a lot of digging through the past to come up with images that are rare or out of the ordinary. The author simply packaged what was available to the public in a nice neat format.



Still, this is an entertaining book for most Phoenicians that have moved here in the last 10 years and don't know about how and why this city came to exist. Up until the Second World War, this was a very backward town. While New York and San Francisco were thriving in the 1920 and 1930, we still had dirt covered streets and swam in irrigation canals to beat the 110 degree heat. It was still the wild west up until 1941.



The book touches on some of the darker issues in Phoenix's past, but only slightly. The issues of race relations between Caucasians, Hispanics and African-Americans is barely mentioned, but was a big issue between the 1940s and 1960s. Prior to 1940, Hispanics played a major role in the development of the town. With the onset of WWII, the tightening of borders and the expanding military industrial complexes that sprang up around the growing city, the Caucasian influence became predominant and most ethnicities were marginalized until attitudes started to change in the 80s and 90s. The issue of race is still a hot button issue here regarding illegal immigration.



This would be a good gift for anyone in Phoenix that wants to know more about the city. If you want to know the real secrets of this town, you will have to dig a little bit deeper, but this book scratches the surface pretty well.


Historic Photos of PhoenixText and Captions by Eduardo Obregon PaganPublished by Turner Publishing Company, Copyright: 2007http://www.turnerpublishing.com/