George Rodger: An Adventure in Photography, 1908-1995

He was a trailblazing twentieth-century British photojournalist but George Rodger lived in the adventurous tradition of nineteenth-century explorers. Cofounding Magnum Photos in 1947 with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa, the modest Rodger was eclipsed by his partnersuntil now.

Rodger's Indiana Jones-style escapades are legendary and worth the telling. He once covered over 75,000 miles of "old Africa" in a Land Rover. He even survived a white rhino charge. He went on to become a key photographer of African tribal life. During World War II he covered sixty-one countries for Life magazine. He was chased through three hundred miles of Burmese jungles by both the Japanese army and a tribe of headhunters. And he was the first to record the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He quit photography when he realized he was arranging "thousands of Jewish corpses in nice photographic compositions."

In fascinating detail Carol Naggar not only recalls Roger's singular life and artistic contribution, but she also provides an in-depth look at the complex dynamics of ethics, violence, and photojournalism. As such, it places the legacy of George Rodger within a broader sociohistorical context.

Author: Carole Naggar
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 10/01/2003
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.47lbs
Size: 9.58h x 6.42w x 0.97d
ISBN: 9780815607625

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 11/01/2003 pg. 471
Library Journal 11/15/2003 pg. 62
Choice 05/01/2004 pg. 1655

About the Author
Carole Naggar is the author of five books and wrote the lead essay for the award-winning work Mexico Through Foreign Eyes: Photographs 1850-1990.