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The Taste of War
The American photographer describes her experiences covering the war in Europe from 1941 to 1945 and shares her observations on the Russian and German people
600 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1986
About the author
Margaret Bourke-White
63 books13 followersMargaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and documentary photographer. She is best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of Soviet Industry, the first female war correspondent (and the first female permitted to work in combat zones) and the first female photographer for Henry Luce's Life magazine, where her photograph appeared on the first cover.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 23, 2017
her photos were a lot beter
If you make a very short list of great American photographers, Margaret Bourke-White is sure to be on it. Her photo graced the first cover of LIFE magazine back in the day and featured in many subsequent issues as well. She was famous as the first foreign photographer to take pictures of Soviet industry. Having done a good job, she was invited back to the USSR just before the Germans invaded. She was able to see the bombing of Moscow and go to the front in a rather guarded way. Subsequently she became the first woman war photographer and worked in the war zones from 1942 to 1945, then covered occupied Germany. She was married to the novelist Erskine Caldwell for a few years, but divorced during the war.
The present book is actually a compendium, edited, of three books that she wrote in the 1940s. The first, "Shooting the Russian War" is the most boring of the three because she was basically stuck in the American Embassy after the Nazi invasion and was not allowed to move about or take photos except at night during bombardments. Since the Soviets did not allow her any freedom, she really doesn't have much to say and the text comes down to a lot of personal details, one trip to the front, and her escape to London. The second part, "Purple Heart Valley" covers her experiences on the Cassino front in Italy in 1943. She risked everything for her photos, was incredibly brave and rugged, enduring complete discomfort, constant shelling and strafing. In this part, she wrote about the army supply system and the hospital services. Some of this is tough reading, but that was the reality. The last part, "Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly", gives us her impressions of the last weeks of the war in Germany itself---the confusion and destruction---and then the unrepentant attitudes of the Germans she met. Having faced German shells and bullets for several years, she was not in the mood to be understanding and having been on hand at the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp, she was understandably unforgiving. She felt that America had missed its chance to bring a new democracy and new social structure to Germany. [I think she was way over-pessimistic because such changes take time.] My final words: though there are a lot of interesting things in this book her best photographs are not included. And I would conclude that Margaret Bourke-White was certainly a good photographer, but she was not much of a writer.
If you make a very short list of great American photographers, Margaret Bourke-White is sure to be on it. Her photo graced the first cover of LIFE magazine back in the day and featured in many subsequent issues as well. She was famous as the first foreign photographer to take pictures of Soviet industry. Having done a good job, she was invited back to the USSR just before the Germans invaded. She was able to see the bombing of Moscow and go to the front in a rather guarded way. Subsequently she became the first woman war photographer and worked in the war zones from 1942 to 1945, then covered occupied Germany. She was married to the novelist Erskine Caldwell for a few years, but divorced during the war.
The present book is actually a compendium, edited, of three books that she wrote in the 1940s. The first, "Shooting the Russian War" is the most boring of the three because she was basically stuck in the American Embassy after the Nazi invasion and was not allowed to move about or take photos except at night during bombardments. Since the Soviets did not allow her any freedom, she really doesn't have much to say and the text comes down to a lot of personal details, one trip to the front, and her escape to London. The second part, "Purple Heart Valley" covers her experiences on the Cassino front in Italy in 1943. She risked everything for her photos, was incredibly brave and rugged, enduring complete discomfort, constant shelling and strafing. In this part, she wrote about the army supply system and the hospital services. Some of this is tough reading, but that was the reality. The last part, "Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly", gives us her impressions of the last weeks of the war in Germany itself---the confusion and destruction---and then the unrepentant attitudes of the Germans she met. Having faced German shells and bullets for several years, she was not in the mood to be understanding and having been on hand at the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp, she was understandably unforgiving. She felt that America had missed its chance to bring a new democracy and new social structure to Germany. [I think she was way over-pessimistic because such changes take time.] My final words: though there are a lot of interesting things in this book her best photographs are not included. And I would conclude that Margaret Bourke-White was certainly a good photographer, but she was not much of a writer.
Displaying 1 of 1 review