LIFE: Century of Change: America in Pictures 1900-2000
From the time of its founding in 1936 to its final monthly issue in May 2000,Lifemagazine chronicled the world around us. InLife: Century of Change, the editors have assembled a jaw-dropping assortment of quintessentially American images. The 723 photographs from theLifearchives present a composite portrait of an evolving nation by focusing on 10 key areas of American life and culture. Thoughtful essays by writers, including Stephanie Coontz on family, John R. Stilgoe on the American home, and Thomas Hine on industrial design, add depth, but the real stars of the book are the photographs: New York's modest decorations for New Year's Eve 1899, a sagging couple at a dance marathon, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, a young Hugh Hefner surrounded by Playboy bunnies, Christa McAuliffe training at zero G's three months before theChallengerdisaster, Collins and Venter standing before a giant depiction of the completed human genome map, Elián González pitching a baseball while a wall of cameramen looks on.Century of Changeis both informative and deeply entertaining--and proof positive that a pictureisworth a thousand words.