Inferno

Rating:
Summary: Breathless and Speechless
Review: Nachtwey takes us on a journey through the catastrophic results of human conflict and shows us the faces of those caught in the middle of greed, power, and international neglect. I am left breathless and speechless after pouring over this book for the last 2 hours. Never has a photography book had such an emotional impact on me. The images in this book are tragic and horrific and yet are the most beautiful and compassionate photographs I have ever seen. Thank you James Nachtwey for taking these images and creating this unforgettable book. Inferno is a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Access to the World's torments...
Review: Nachtwey took upon himself the task and assignments to share life with the subjects in his book, "Inferno". As such, he was given access to people's private lives, their grief, their loss and death in a way that I have seen in very few other books. Inferno delivers stark messages with each photograph. This is a book that should be prized as a masterpiece of photojournalism.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond words
Review: There are no words to describe this book. But as this is a review, I'll have to use them so I'll try. Watching these photo's for me is a physical experience. My heart starts to pound and the hairs in my neck stand on end. Reading about the atrocities that happen in the world, seeing documentaries, can't compare to James Nachtwey's work, the photo's are that powerful. James Nachtwey succeeds in making the people who read the book witnesses also. So that we can never again say that we didn't know this was happening. And by making us witnesses, he obliges us not to turn our backs to the Inferno that too many parts of the world still are. But however shocking these photo's are, love and compassion also speak through them. Love for human beings,love for the dignity the nameless persons in these pictures continue to posess in the eyes of James Nachtwey and therefore also in the eyes of the reader.This book reached out and touched me deeply. It made me feel connected to those nameless people, who speak so loudly in these photographs. And however deeply angry I am that the world is still such a cruel place for so many of us humans, the anger doesnt make me feel powerless. But hopeful that I am not the only one who feels this connection and that if enough people do feel the same, we as human beings can stop these things from happening. This book empowers us and it made a difference to me in a profound way. Thank you, James Nachtwey.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: There's little to say about this book other than it is a monumental masterpiece! Nachtwey's photographes literally jump from the pages of "Inferno" and into the soul of the reader. They speak to the horrors that human beings convey upon one another while, at the same time, they reveal the unimpeachable dedication of one man (Nachtwey) to ending such atrocities. This is a book that will out live us all. Hopefully, it will appear in college courses 100 years from now as a testament to humanity's past, not its present condition. This book is highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: The book everyone needs to see
Review: These exquisitely beautiful and painful photographs bear witness to human suffering many of us otherwise might not see. Nachtwey has said it is his responsibility to record these images, and show the world. It is our responsibility as mindful beings to engage with them. This book will broaden your world and invite you to consider your connection to all who inhabit it. To view it is nothing short of a spiritual act.

Rating:
Summary: Tough Stuff
Review: This book is not for the faint of heart. This book has photos showing people who are ghosts and don't know it yet and therefore contains images which are very difficult to view. In many instances you are convinced by the photos there is no hope and the people photographed will pass away soon (painfully in some cases).

Rating:
Summary: Artistic Fraud
Review: What a disappointment! This self indulgent wallow in self importance has convinced the photographer and the editor that this is serious art. Don't be fooled. Natchwey's high fashion compositions cheapen the suffering experienced by the subjects. Thanks to the photographer, I expected to see Naomi Campbell walk through the horror of refugee camps in Zaire. As Natchwey voyeuristically fetishsizes his subjects, he loses all sense of time and place. The viewer can't tell if photos are of Chechnya or Kosovo and I don't Natchwey knows either.

Rating:
Summary: Hold down your vomit
Review: Whoa. Ran across this in the bookstore and I couldn't walk away for the next half hour. Amazing photographs that will make your gut wrench. Definately worth the look.

Rating:
Summary: Pictures that will sear your mind and wound your soul
Review: With this book/pictorial, it becomes quite clear, that yes indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words or more.... Each picture means more than any news report or article you've ever read... You see the evil in the world with a clarity rarely shown in few other works of media... When you look at these pictures, tears of anguish, tears of a simmering anger begin to well in your eyes... the question we all must ask ourselves, "How can we let this happen? and why does it happen?" No one should ever suffer like those people suffer in this book, and it is heartbreaking and disheartning to realize that so many Americans and others don't really give a darn enough to stand up and do something...