Life's America: family and nation in postwar photojournalism

Abstract

"Explores the origins of the visual portrait of domesticity that has dominated American culture since World War II."--Preface. This exploration comes from the author's examination of images published in Life magazine during its heyday, the forties and fifties.

Contents

Ch. 1. Documenting the Ordinary: Photographic Realism and LIFE's families -- Ch. 2. Looking at LIFE: A Historical Profile of Photojournalism -- Ch. 3. "The Kind of People Who Make Good Americans": Nationalism and LIFE's family Ideal -- Ch. 4. Public News and Private Lives: The Politics of Merging Spaces -- Ch. 5. Resisting the Domestic: News Coverage of Social Change -- Ch. 6. Conclusion.