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A Marriage of Images And Words

© Dane Mitchell Donato

Words are wonderful things, but sometimes, words aren’t nearly as effective as photographs. I am the first person to admit that, and any writer who doesn’t is fooling either her or his audience or maybe himself. Probably both.

I came across a terrific little book a couple of months ago, “The Hulton Getty Picture Collection: 1960s.” Nick Yapp, Konemann, 1998. ISBN 3-8290-0523-7. This little volume packs a punch for it's size, and manages to nicely chronicle through photographs and words arguably the most turbulent (if not the coldest -- I’ll give that honor to the 1950s) decade of the Cold War era, the 1960s.

The photographs are truly remarkable, and pretty much speak for themselves. The first chapter, entitled “Movers and shakers/Spieler und Gegenspieler/Progressistes et agitateurs,” features some fascinating images, including a 1961 photograph of people standing on the back of a bus to peer over the brand spankin’ new Berlin Wall, a publicity shot of Nikita Khrushchev and then Yugoslavian President Josip Tito sharing a moment of “friendship” for the cameras, and another of Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle, evidence from the Warren Commission.

My favorite from this chapter, I think, is a striking photograph of Richard Nixon, then the Vice-President (and years before he would dabble in audio tapes of any sort) poking Khrushchev in the lapel during a conversation following the U-2 incident.

The other chapters in this wonderful pocket-sized volume are equally as fascinating. There is a chapter that focuses on conflicts -- the Six Day War, Rhodesia, Algiers and Kenya. There are some famous images of Soviet tanks invading Czechoslovakia, and some less famous photographs of American troops fighting in South Viet Nam.

“Protest/Demonstrationen/Contestations” is, as you might guess, a collection of photos of protests of all colors and stripes. Here you can revisit Bobby Seale and Huey Newton of the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Danny the Red and the 10,000 Parisian students who battled the CRS riot police for days. British anti-Viet Nam protesters were captured on film, and so were the Northern Irish, and they all look out at you from these pages, almost as if it were tomorrow.

There are chapters that features popular entertainment, film and classical music, ballet and sports, all important parts of the social fabric that is part and parcel of the Cold War era. And so is the space race. Chapter 9 of this book, is, for me, the best part of “The Hulton Getty Picture Collection: 1960s”.

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