The photographs that make up this first book by renowned photojournalist Jean-Pierre Laffont serve as a powerful and provocative examination of the American dream. For nearly three decades, Laffont traveled the breadth of the United States, a true embodiment of American freedom.
Documenting the country in all of its facets - from national crises and unsightly social injustices to heartfelt protest and solidarity, the photographer took full advantage of the access granted to him bythe world's greatest democracy. He traveled all fifty of the United States to document a broad swath of the country's fabric, capturing America through some of its most turbulent eras. From the electric chair at Sing Sing to Women's Jello Wrestling, the Watkins Glen rock festival to the Kent State shooting protest in Washington DC, Laffont was front and centre to history as it unfolded. Never working on assignment, Laffont chased stories of his own volition with a lens that was at once compassionate, humanistic, and unflinching.
Taken together, these pages tell the story of the chaotic, often painful, birth of twenty-first-century America - a place where a black president, gay marriage, and women executives have become the new norm. Photographer's Paradise reminds us of the power of the freedom of speech, as Laffont speaks truth to power through his camera lens. Contents: Foreword by Sir Harold Evans; Introduction: America As I Lived It; The 1960s / Expanded History: 1960s: 42nd Street; The Savage Skulls; Transvestites; Electric Chair, Sing Sing; Arkansas Prison Cummins Farm; The Krishnas; Rock Festival at Watkins Glen, 1973; The Funeral of Robert Kennedy; An Accident at Chappaquiddick. The 1970s / Expanded History: 1970s: Guam; Bombs; Protest in Washington DC against the Kent State Shooting; Boxing: Ali vs Frasier; The KKK at Home; KKK Secret Army; Carter County, Georgia; Explo 72; The Sorcerers of Brooklyn; Energy Crisis of 1973; Printing Dollars. The 1980s / Expanded History: 1980s: Women's Jello Wrestling; Children and Guns; The Rajneesh American Farmers in the 1980s.
Photographer's Paradise: Turbulent America 1960-1990
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Reviews: star
star
star
star
star
Author: Jean-Pierre Laffont
Publisher: Glitterati Incorporated
Publication Date:
2014
Print Length: 392 pages
Language: English
Price: paid
paid
paid
Selected Books by This Photographer
Nos Stars en Amérique Cartes postales de Jean-Pierre Laffont
2019 - Editions de La Martinière
Jean-Pierre Laffont
Books From the Same Publisher
Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective
2019 - Glitterati Incorporated
Shane Balkowitsch
expand_circle_rightLatest Books in This Category
Grim Glory: Lee Miller's Britain at War
Dec 2026 — Lee Miller Archives Publishing
starstarstarstarstar
John Baer: The Extraordinary Ordinary: A Memoir in Photographs, 1945–1954
Sep 2026 — John Baer Archive



