Dorothea Lange

A Life Beyond Limits

By: Linda Gordon

Narrated by: Kathleen Gati

Winner of the 2010 Bancroft Prize and finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography: The definitive biography of a heroic chronicler of America's Depression and one of the 20th century's greatest photographers.

We all know Dorothea Lange's iconic photos - the Migrant Mother holding her child, the shoeless children of the Dust Bowl - but now renowned American historian Linda Gordon brings them to three-dimensional life in this groundbreaking exploration of Lange's transformation into a documentarist. Using Lange's life to anchor a moving social history of 20th-century America, Gordon masterfully re-creates bohemian San Francisco, the Depression, and the Japanese-American internment camps. Gordon has written a sparkling, fast-moving story that testifies to her status as one of the most gifted historians of our time.

©2009 Linda Gordon (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Story of a legendary photographer told well

Complete, well-balanced biography with rich historical context. Highly recommend for photographers and history buffs!
Narrator did a good job; a couple of English mispronounciations noticed, but non-English words spoken very well.

What a Life, What a Woman

Beyond the story of one person, Dorothea’s life was a portrait of an era. Her determined lens gave voice to the oppressed at a crucial time in the history of America. It is impossible to study the history of the United States without considering her depression era photographs, not to mention her Japanese internment documentary work. Working against impossible odds, she prevailed against sexism and disability to create a new style of documentary photography. This book not only pays tribute to her accomplishments, but reveals the woman behind the photos. The result is a fascinating portrait.

Amateurish reader

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

Who was your favorite character and why?

No characters, it's nonfiction.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator is semi illiterate, that's the only way I can describe her. She basically can't pronounce most of the "hard" words in the text. At first I started counting how many words she mispronounced, then it just got to be so ridiculous it was almost laughable.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It's non fiction

Any additional comments?

The book itself isn't bad, but the author admits that there isn't as much documentation of Lange's life as one would like, so there is a lot of historical background that is not specific to Lange's life.

Good book with horrible narration

As others have mentioned, the narrator was very distracting. Her tone is monotonous with no emotion. It's almost like listening to a text-to-speech computer generated reading, from the 1990s. Not to mention so many mispronunciations.

Amazing!

Great listen! Well written and writer talks all sides of story accounting for everything

Amazing person that is missed and needed as an example of a life well live!

We should a lead a life like this. It shows faults as well great triumphs and the struggle that both bring great happiness and sadness along with confidence and self doubt.
She was a great photographer but a total human being. That may be what this society is sorely missing.
This is what our time has brought us.

Very interesting but narration was unusual

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, as I am a photographer and have admired Lange's work without knowing anything about her. The story introduced quite a bit of conjecture and assumption along the way, but in general the story seemed well researched. There were obviously more gaps in documentation than is common when putting together a book like this. Things that seemed obvious conjecture were well considered and generally had the ring of truth that keeps them from being speed bumps.

I wish I had read this book rather then listened to it. The narrator mispronounced quite a few words along the way, enough to be jarring each time. And they weren't just uncommon place names like San Joaquin (as San JoeWokin) but numerous common words.

I always assumed they would edit while recording to fix gaffes like these when producing audio books.

Many Books in One

Any additional comments?

This is a very long and detailed book that is more about the world during Dorthea Lange's time than it is about Lange. With this said, it is eye opening, and provides some incredible insight into American History. I felt as though I received three books for the price of one. I am grateful to the writer for all the research as well as the narrator for the reading. Books of this magnitude, are not easy to read. Yes, there are mistakes in the narration, but this was not easy ground to cover. To sum everything up, if you like to hear the untold story of America's history during the depression as told through a photographer's life don't hesitate read this book.

An incredible story of one of America’s most iconic photographers

I learned so much about who Dorothea Lange was in this amazing biography. Like many people, Lange’s photograph, “Migrant Mother,” was my first introduction to Lange’s work. I do not remember when I first saw a copy, most-likely in one of my history books. In college I learned that she and friend and fellow photographer Imogen Cunningham were regular fixtures around San Francisco, where I grew up and live today. It made Lange’s story even more intimate to me knowing exactly where she lived, worked, and vacationed.

This is a well-written and well-narrated story of Lange’s life from her childhood through her death. The biography is textured and well-rounded not only exploring Lange’s psychology and physical limitations due to polio, but her ideas about her work and challenges, activism, struggles, love and relationships, family, but also an intellectual analysis of her work. I really feel like I got a really good understanding about Lange as a person, professional, and iconic photographer.

I also found it relaxing to listen to while driving and cooking. The narrator’s voice is soothing, calm, and meditative.

I highly recommend this audiobook.

Well researched. Interesting. I learned a lot about Lange, her work, and the events that were taking place at the time.

The narrator mispronunced a lot of words. It was irritating. Other than the mispronunciations, the narration was ok. Her voice was fine. The inflection was appropriate.