And Histories Are Mirrors: Iraq and Afghanistan

Rating:
Summary: Pictures of a changing world
Review: People talk endlessly about how the world has changed since 9/11. In his new book, "Histories are Mirrors," Tyler Hicks doesn't talk about the changes, he records them in some of the most riveting photographs I've ever seen.

This book may be the best document to date of what has happened in our world since the World Trade Towers came down. From the Hicks's earliest pictures, taken at ground zero immediately after the attack, through the invasion of Afghanistan and on to Iraq, the viewer is taken step by step through world-changing events and the resulting hope, euphoria, death and destruction.

Hicks is one of the world's leading war photographers. Sometimes it seems barely a bullet was fired that he was not there to record. His pictures of the execution of a wounded Taliban soldier-previously splashed across the front page of the New York Times where Hicks is a staff photographer-are gut-wrenching. And there are many more like that: Marines in close-quarters combat in the cemetery in Najaf, Saddam's soldiers searching for downed Americans along the Tigris, bleeding Northern Alliance soldiers an arm's reach from the lens. The pictures of Iraqi prisoners fleeing the open doors of Abu Ghraib are alone worth the price of the book

But Hicks has another, more empathetic side as well. He goes into the homes of grieving families; he shows the funerals and the hospital wards, the parents who have lost children, the children who are now orphans. The viewer feels the human suffering that results as world leaders solve political problems with guns and bombs.

There are many talented, committed photojournalists working today. Two characteristics separate Hicks from the crowd. One is his persistence-he was one of a handful of journalists who remained in Baghdad during the US bombing campaign. The second is his artistry. Simply put, he understands how to make a riveting, often haunting picture in the quiet moments when there is no action.

Robert Capa, Eugene Smith and Larry Burrows are recognized as the preeminent war photographers of the twentieth century. All were brave beyond belief (Capa and Burrows died in Vietnam). Yet they are remembered as much for their artistry, and for the humanity in their photos. Tyler Hicks follows in their footsteps.

Michael Kamber