Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom
by Stephen Wilkes
List Price:
Our Price: $63.00
You Save: $37.00 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $40.87 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen WilkesIntroduction: Bill Bradley
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-17
ISBN: 0393061450
Number of pages: 152
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Book Reviews of Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom
Book Review: Hope and Decay
Summary: 5 Stars
Stephen Wilke's "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" will haunt you.
You cannot look at the photographs in this book and remain unmoved.
If, as I have, you have seen the actual prints you know that no reproduction can match the originals. However, this publication by W.W. Norton and Company, comes as close as possible. The printing is excellent and the color is exquisite.
Wilkes takes the viewer and reader on a personal tour of the Ellis Island Hospital complex. These buildings have not been restored. His photographs, made between 1998 and 2003 reveal the rot, crumble, peel, sag and tumble of more than 50 years of abandonment. The photographer used no artificial lighting or other special techniques. His compositions are aesthetically masterful, compelling and charged with meaning.
The rooms he shows us are a testament to time's indifference. They are quiet now but far from empty. They are filled with the lingering air of fear, confusion, hope, and joy, left by those who once lived, breathed and sometimes died within them.
The ascendance of consumerism in America has encouraged us to become a throw away society. Wilkes confronts us with just how close we came to throwing away this important part of our national heritage--leaving the back wards of Ellis Island to become moldering heaps of refuse.
It is worth noting that Mr. Wilkes efforts were instrumental in saving these ruins from further desecration. Thanks to his work and that of the New York Landmarks Conservancy the United States Congress approved a six million dollar grant to help preserve what is left as a "living ruin."
This book is a tribute to those brave and frightened people who came to America seeking freedom and hope and a rebuke to those who would forget them.
Summary of Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom
"Wilkes's photographs of the 'dark side' of Ellis Island are extraordinary...this book will be a major event." --David McCullough
For five years (1998-2003) New York photographer Stephen Wilkes explored the hospital complex that comprised the south side of Ellis Island. Neglected for almost fifty years, the buildings were in a state of extreme disrepair: lead paint peeled from the ceilings and walls, vines and trees grew through the floorboards, detritus and debris littered the hallways. In rooms long-abandoned, Wilkes captured a spirited new vision of this gateway to freedom. Twelve million people passed through Ellis Island. Approximately one percent were turned away for health reasons. Wilkes's powerful images of the underbelly of the island--a purgatory between freedom and captivity--ask us to reflect on the defining experiences of millions. With that rare combination of an eye that sees far beyond the lens with the technical acumen of a master draftsman, Wilkes takes us on an unforgettable journey through our collective past. 77 color photographsArtists, A-Z Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Artists, A-Z Books
Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintingsby Gary Schwartz
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1991-11-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.50
Life with Lowryby Tilly Marshall
Hutchinson; Published: 1981-02-16; Hardcover; Book
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Lifeby Richard Meryman
Harper; Published: 1996-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops:
Georg Baselitz: Paintings 1964-67 [exhibition: May 1-31, 1985]by Georg Baselitz
Anthony d'Offay Gallery; Paperback; Book
Florence and Its Beauty: A Practical Guidebook to the Town and Its Monuments with 350 Illustrations and a Plan of the Principal Places of Interestby Sandra Orienti
G. Ramella - Florence, Italy; Published: 1956; Unknown Binding; Book
Lord of the Rings Sketchbookby Alan Lee
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2008-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Picassoby Patrick O'Brian
Harvill; Published: 1994; Paperback; Book
The Art of Adventureby Galen Rowell
Collins Pub San Francisco; Published: 1989-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.92
Price in other shops:
Calder JewelryOther Distribution; Published: 2007-12-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $359.99
POPism: The Warhol Sixtiesby Andy Warhol, Pat Hackett
Mariner Books; Published: 2006-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
De Kooning: A Retrospectiveby Jim Coddington, John Elderfield, Willem de Kooning
The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Published: 2011-09-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $47.25
Price in other shops:
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitalsby Christopher Payne
The MIT Press; Published: 2009-09-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.65
Price in other shops:
Vanishing America: The End of Main Street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and Other Everyday Monumentsby Michael Eastman, William H. Gass
Rizzoli; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.95
Price in other shops:
Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images (Voices That Matter)by David duChemin
New Riders Press; Published: 2011-10-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.72
Price in other shops:
Ghostly Ruins: America's Forgotten Architectureby Harry Skrdla
Princeton Architectural Press; Published: 2006-09-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.48
Price in other shops:
Ruin: Photographs of a Vanishing Americaby Brian Vanden Brink
Down East Books; Published: 2009-06-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.92
Price in other shops:
American Passage: The History of Ellis Islandby Vincent J. Cannato
Harper; Published: 2009-06-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Ellis Island (NJ) (Images of America)by Barry Moreno
Arcadia Publishing; Published: 2003-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America's Immigrant Hospitalby Lorie Conway
PBS; Smithsonian; Published: 2007-10-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.17
Price in other shops:
American Passage: The History of Ellis Islandby Vincent J. Cannato
Harper Perennial; Published: 2010-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.37
Price in other shops: