I agree with the introduction, it's very difficult to pick a top 100, but the ones chosen do not fall short of their goal. If I still taught high school, I would develop not just a lesson plan, but an entire course section on this collection and concept. There are so many wonderful lessons that can be taught and learned from this book.
The "Society" section is what gripped me the most. Yes, these photos changed the world at the time of their publishing, but I do not think their purpose has come to an end. What affected me the most was the fact that all of these photos, dating back to the 1700's still play a role in our society in many forms. I always thought the purpose of sitting through dreadfully boring, monotone history lectures (why can't teachers make it more like the History Channel?) was to learn from past mistakes, to continue to grow as people, as a deep thinking, caring, productive citizen of the human race. Many of these poignant photos demonstrate that we are not evolving. Our technology may be evolving, our means to an end may be evolving, but we continue to make the same mistakes again and again.
There are many beautiful aspects of people and humanity. People do possess the ability to care, to nurture, to be philosophical, and brilliant and creative and loving. Yet, they also have the ability to destroy others, to be cruel, arrogant, and evil. In fact, all the evils of society are the fault of the human race. I often feel the evil winning in society and find that I envy those who, no matter what is happening in their lives or the world, are permanently surrounded by sunshine. They must take amazing drugs.
I hope you find time in your busy schedule (who isn't busy these days?) to seek out this collection, find a quiet place where you can reflect on whatever emotion or thought you find provoked by these images and join me in contemplating how to make people see the the repetition of the evils of the past in our present.
Here are some of the photos.
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