Arthur Grace: Communism(s): A Cold War Album

Product Description For most people in the West, the realities of life behind the Iron Curtain have faded into caricatures of police state repression and bread lines. With the world seemingly again divided between democracies and authoritarian regimes, it is essential that we understand the reality of life in the Soviet Bloc. American photojournalist Arthur Grace (born 1947) was uniquely placed to provide that context. During the 1970s and 1980s Grace traveled extensively behind the Iron Curtain, working primarily for news magazines. One of only a small corps of Western photographers with ongoing access, he was able to delve into the most ordinary corners of people’s daily lives, while also covering significant events. Many of the photographs in this remarkable book are effectively psychological portraits that leave the viewer with a sense of the gamut of emotions in that era. Illustrated with over 120 black-and-white images―nearly all previously unpublished―Communism(s) gives an unprecedented glimpse behind the veil of a not-so-distant time filled with harsh realities unseen by nearly all but those that lived through it. Shot in the USSR, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic, here are portraits of factory workers, farmers, churchgoers, vacationers and loitering teens juxtaposed with the GDR’s imposing Social Realist–designed apartment blocks, annual May Day Parades, Poland’s Solidarity movement (and the subsequent imposition of martial law) and the vastness of Moscow’s Red Square. Review “Images by one of the few western photographers in the eastern bloc during the 1970s and 80s carry a timely reminder of repression under autocratic rule” “His book unearths many “outtakes” that didn’t make it to print, which have acquired an alarming new relevance” -- Sunday Times “A penetrating look behind the Iron Curtain… In the waning years of the Soviet bloc, a photo journalist saw past the propaganda and found the humanity” “These images capture the damage that Russian occupation did to these countries and to the mental and spiritual well-being of the tens of millions who suffered under that horrific misrule.” -- Washington Post “His remarkable book Communism(s) A Cold War Album is effectively psychological portraits that leave the viewer with a sense of the gamut of emotions in that era.” -- Cold War Conversations "as Richard Hornik, Grace’s Time Magazine colleague, notes in the afterword, the images capture the ‘gritty, multidimensional reality’ of life behind the Iron Curtain, defying the propaganda while also rejecting the counter-narrative of an oppressed, impoverished people." -- Black & White Photography Magazine Book Description An unusually intimate, close-quarters account of daily life in postwar communist countries From the Back Cover The Cold War is just a distant memory for many, and practically a blank slate for anyone born after 1980. For most people in the West, the realities of life behind the Iron Curtain have faded into caricatures of police state repression and bread lines. With the world seemingly again divided between democracies and authoritarian regimes, it is essential that we understand the reality of life in the Soviet Bloc. Photojournalist Arthur Grace was uniquely placed to provide that context. During the 1970Æs and 1980Æs, Grace traveled extensively behind the Iron Curtain working primarily for news magazines. One of only a small corps of Western photographers with ongoing access to the area, he was able to take the time to delve into the most ordinary corners of peopleÆs daily lives while also covering significant events which unfolded while on assignment. Many of the photographs in this remarkable book are effectively psychological portraits that leave the viewer with a sense of the gamut of emotions in that er About the Author Arthur Grace began his professional career in 1973 as a staff photographer for United Press International. During his award-winning care