Daring to Look: Dorthea Lange’s Photographs & Reports from the Field
Anne Whiston Spirn
This volume presents never-before-published photos and captions from American documentary photographer and photojournalist Dorothea Lange's (1895-1965) fieldwork in California, the Pacific Northwest, and North Carolina during 1939. Best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development of documentary photography. Lange's images of squatter camps, benighted farmers, and stark landscapes are stunning, and her captions -- which range from simple explanations of settings to historical notes and biographical sketches -- add unexpected depth, bringing her subjects and their struggles unforgettably to life, often in their own words.
Award History
0 wins · 1 total
| Award | Year | Result | Category / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PROSE Award for Art History and Criticism | 2008 | Honorable mention | Official source |
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies
This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.
01 Central figures
- Dorothea Lange90%
02 Central places
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.
- California60%
- the Pacific Northwest45%
- North Carolina45%
03 Suggested argument
No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.
04 Reading orientation
55 / 100 academicTrade / academic crossover
An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.
Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 74%.