The Family of Man

From The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals , March 19, 1958 (p. 125):

Marvelous books for a few pennies--including The Family of Man for 50 cents. All those fabulous pictures. No refinements and no explanations are necessary!

By chance, I found The Family of Man: The Greatest Photographic Exhibition of All Time- 503 Pictures from 68 Countries book in high school, perhaps (?), and it became my stock wedding gift and for other gift-giving occasions.

Later, I picked up a rather battered copy for myself from a used bookstore. The black-and-white photographs and scattered quotes truly give an unadorned and evocative glimpse of human life and longing that contrasts with the much more constructed and artificial way we (I) live our (my) lives (life) today in Western society.

I am sad that so many of the photos remain just that--pictures on paper. But, still, they beckon....