National Geographic Photographs Then and Now

by Leah Bendavid-Val (Editor), National Geographic Society

For more than a century, National Geographic's writers and photographers have crisscrossed the world, visiting and revisiting the most interesting, dramatic, extraordinary corners of our planet. And month after month enthralled readers and armchair travelers have accompanied them, going places they could never go and meeting people they would never otherwise encounter. With pictures ranging from familiar American landscapes to exotic foreign scenes, the National Geographic archive is a treasure trove of images and observations -- and this book invites you to explore its wonderful diversity on a journey through time and across the Earth. Then and Now is playful...surprising...downright dazzling. In its provocative pairings of photographs -- one from years past and one from the present -- it offers a wonderful, wide-ranging array of the world as it was, and as it is today. Gaze upon New York's Flatiron Building, a marvel of modern architecture circa 1917 -- and see it again in 1989, now dwarfed in scale by Manhattan's towers but still wonderful in its angularity. Here are Australian Aborigines in ancient ceremonial dress and their modern counterpart in jean jacket and cowboy hat. Along with the arresting images that record each far-flung region of the globe, you'll find an essay by a writer who knows the area well and captures its unique character with entertaining eloquence. Panoramic and perceptive, the kind of book that only National Geographic could create, Then and Now is a stunning celebration of our ever-changing, always fascinating world.

Genres: Photography, Picture Books, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Leah Bendavid-Val is a historian of photography who has worked with Russian photographers for more than two decades. She is the author most recently of Song Without Words: The Photographs & Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy (published in October 2007). Her two earlier books about Russian photographers and themes are Propaganda & Dreams (1999); and Changing Reality (1991).

Bendavid-Val is former Director of Photography Publishing for National Geographic Books. Books published in her program for popular and professional audiences have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Bendavid-Val is author of two books on the history of National Geographic photography—Stories on Paper & Glass (2001) and the best-selling National Geographic: The Photographs (1994), which is still in print. She is co-author and editor of National Geographic Image Collection, on the New York Times Bestseller List in December 2009.

Based on her Russia and National Geographic work, Leah Bendavid-Val has served as curator for exhibitions at the International Center for Photography, New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, and other museums. She teaches writing and book publishing for photographers at the Santa Fe Workshops in New Mexico. She was Commencement Speaker for the University of Maryland Department of Philosophy, Class of 2008.

(from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/l...)

Reviews

[h. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book at a used library sell and got it for a buck! I added it to my classroom library and within a few days every ninth grade boy in the room was browsing it and passing it around. They were congregating together to look at the pages! This is really not normal.

I obviously wasted no time in checking it out certain the fanfare would be caused by a bare-breasted woman in native African dress.

It does have one snicker-worthy pic from a boy's perspective, but I feel the popularity really came down to the quality of the collection. As one boy explained when I asked why he liked it, "It's a cool book." That's teenage speak for four-stars.

Almost every picture is breath-taking, and the contrast between the past and present is in intriguing. It contains photos of places from years ago and current photos from today and is divided up by continent. It's exactly what it says --- then and now.

I want my students to read and I hate to short-change them, but I loved it so much I took it home from school and keep it as my one coffee table book. The geisha with the cellphone is stunning.

If you ever see this book floating around at a booksale, snap it up.

I've snapped up lots of cheap Wimpy Kid books and added them to the class library to assuage my guilt. Just throwing that out there so you don't think I'm bad teacher!

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got top see a lot of the world and learned about some culture. It was actually cool to see these foreign places. I enjoyed the diversity.

It also had me at an awkward moment. Here I am, well to do and comforatable with life while others are not so well to do.

There was one image where I wished I could have cried, just because of the sadness of it. It makes me want to do something about the world issues, which I guess is kind of the point, but saying you want to do it and actually saving up time and money to actually do it seems like it will never happen.

I want to know these people in the pictures. I want to know there story. I can't just sit back and accept them as "this woman holding her child"

Who is the woman? What is her name, and what is the name of her child?
I pray they are better off now then they were then.


I thought this book would show pictures of exact locations at one time period and again in a very much later time period (thus the There and Now) guess I'll have to keep looking.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of photographs of different regions across the globe taken from the early days of the National Geographic magazine to 1998, spanning about 110 years. Although the name suggests that there would be comparison pictures of the same subject matter over time, instead the book has short essays and photographs that illustrate the way the magazine has addressed the differing regions over the 110 years. Most of the photographs show the differing cultures. The book would have been helped with a little more in depth analysis of the changes over the time period but still was an excellent read.

[Lenore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't quite as enthusiastic about this National Geographic as I usually am. Perhaps because some of the photos were dated and not of the same quality as the newer ones. I think the Humans of New York books are spoiling me.