The Spirit of Family | 
 enlarge | Authors: Al Gore, Tipper Gore
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $34.99 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 912550
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.9
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0805068945
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.850973
EAN: 9780805068948
ASIN: 0805068945
Publication Date: October 8, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
An inspiring array of world-class photographs revealing the changing face of the American familyThe American family has undergone dramatic changes in the last two generations, as interfaith and interracial marriage, new gender and age configurations, and different roles have created increasingly complex emotional and spiritual bonds. In The Spirit of Family, Al and Tipper Gore chart this evolution in an entirely fresh way, with 260 black-and-white and color images from many of the country's most acclaimed photographers-including Tina Barney, Mitch Epstein, Lee Friedlander, Sally Mann, Mary Ellen Mark, Nicholas Nixon-and from rising stars such as Gerald Cyrus, Arlene Gottfried, and Jennette Williams. The result is a visual narrative that brilliantly illustrates the traditional stages of life and the unique challenges and opportunities facing today's families. The perfect complement to the Gores' equally eye-opening book about family, Joined at the Heart, this astonishing collection of photographs offers a powerful vision of our most essential relationships.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Beautiful Portraits Of Families September 30, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I couldn't care less about the former profession, one-time aspirations, or politics of the person who edited this lovely book. As I see it, this collection of photos has virtually nothing to do with politics of any sort and has everything to do with the celebration of America's families. Inside this wonderful 225-pages worth of images are Americans of all ages, races, locations and surely political views. The one thing that unites the subjects of these color and black and white, modern and occasionally vintage photos is the fact that they are Americans and part of a family. There are heartwarming snapshots of small children, and formal portraits of adult family members, too. There are candid shots of young people playing, and families being together at work, church and around the dinner table. There are so many images of obvious love that I can't see how anyone would find this controversial. I think this work should appeal to people from coast to coast and stand as a festival of family togetherness.
Very powerful September 5, 2003
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I despise both the Republican and Democratic party, and I didn't vote for Al Gore in the last presidential electoral farce, but I must admit I was taken aback by the collection of photos he and his wife, Tipper, assembled in this book. Their authorship is little misleading, however, for they're only editors--not photographers--pulling together--with the help of photographers--a vast array of works by numerous skilled and apparently hardworking camera artists and workers.
Few photo books show the diversity of the human project as this one. The Gores dare to include images a gay couple, of an interracial relationship, of the everyday poverty lived throughout the front and backyards of this country--of the old and the young, the sick and the afflicted, the violent and the peace makers, the believers and the doubters, the workers and their children, the faces and bodies of a cultural mosaic that makes up the republic.
The images are rugged, urbane, rural and rustic in tone. They provide a voyeuristic look into the homes of people we can't see on t.v. or People magazine. Some of them are so personal that we wonder what they mean, but others only mirror the human condition--the living and loving, the believing and doubting, the holding ourselves together despite our frayed existence.These are not wholesome, American pie photos. They break the media codes of slick Hollywood images or stereotypes of family. Seen together, the collection gives off a truer meaning what is family, of how, as the Gores contend, "families are changing." So for me, no one particular photo stands out, even though the individual works of Sylvia Plachy, Nicholas Nixon, Lauren Greenfield, Laura Staus, Eli Reed, and Arlene Gottfried, convey a particular style and depth. I also particularly like the point the editors make in their introduction, that "America's finest photographers have long believed that the greatest subject for their craft is not wars or the dramatic events of history, but the way people interact with one another--how they touch; how they hold their children in their arms; how they get through the day with all the stress, strains, and joys that life hands them; how one generation relates to the next." This is in part what I call the human project. And what better way to capture it than with photography.
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 Get the other one May 14, 2003
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book didn't blow me away. There are some good pictures, a lot of so-so pictures. I'm not sure how anyone else could have done a whole lot better. One picture is seared into my mind. It is orange. If you have read the book, you may know what I am talking about. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Gore. On the other hand, "Joined at the Heart" is excellent and I highly recommend it. This one can be skipped.
The Spirit of Family January 5, 2003
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a very moving book. Who would think a picture book could be so telling. The Gores should be congratulated for documenting families is such a creative, insightful way. This book is a keeper!
 Disappointing but what I expected!! December 12, 2002
24 out of 62 found this review helpful
After the democratic convention, I concluded that the Gore's were two of the most boring, artificial people I have ever seen. This book and the other one as well are a reflection of the phoniness they exhibited on the stage with their adolescent embrace. Their books' contents are an obvious contneance of this plastic and artificiality. It's amazing how the two of them can contort themselves into gumby-like poses and writing posture. It's a sorry state when they are able to fool even one person.The book is replete with a litany of phony descriptions and attitudes. Will the real Gore--Al and his clone Tipster--please appear for all to see. I don't believe even they know who they are and it is reflected in the writing style apparent. I wouldn't be surprised if we are told it was ghost written!!
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