Photo Book Pileup

Several great photo book recommendations piled in today. First, Peter Granser: Coney Island—normally I wouldn't tout yet another book about the place, but Granser has a fresh take, infusing his colorful snaps of Coney Island ("an American place that is almost mythical in European eyes") with an outsider's view (he's Austrian) and interest in themes of aging, illness, decline, and leisure. Second, the new William Christenberry monograph (the release of which coincides with a Christenberry show at Aperture on 27th St, through August 17th) has people raving. Christenberry, considered a pioneer of color photography, documents regional identity and the visual evidence of time. Finally, the editor-in-chief of American Photo magazine calls Looking At Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art an "essential primer on photography's essential artists... the kind of book you'd want if you were stranded on a desert island and could have only one guide to the art of photography."