It's finally here! After three years of effort, I'm thrilled to announce that Jonathan's book of photographs of the turbulent years of the late 1960s and early 70s, How Many Roads? is finally launched. In addition to the book's 91 sepia-toned photographs, it contains an introduction by Teju Cole, essays by Steve Tozer, Hoyt Alverson, and myself, and a preface by Jonathan.
We've published it in both a paperback version and a limited-edition hardcover, with or without a signed photographic print. The books will be available for pre-order at special prices through the end of October. Paperbacks will ship soon, hardcovers at the end of the month. All the details are on the Phoenicia Publishing website.
We hope you'll take a look; this book would be a good gift for anyone who remembers or is curious about the 60s, or who'd like their children to know what it was like. (And, of course, it could be a great passive-aggressive gift for someone you know who voted for Nixon!)
This past Wednesday, we held a lancement (launch party) at our studio, which meant that we had to clean and reorganize it -- for the first time, really, since we moved in. So not only do we feel like we have a book we're proud of, but we've got a studio that feels almost new.
For my own part, I'm extremely happy this project is finally out in the world. The book's title, drawn from the Bob Dylan song, not only echoes one of the book's sub-themes -- what the interstates did to rural New England -- it also describes the circuitous path we've been on to this point! Jonathan and I have done so many publishing projects for clients and other people in the past that it makes me very happy to finally see some of his own work collected permanently in book form. It's part of his own photographic legacy, and it's also social documentation of an important period in American history that has a good deal to say to us today. Although these photos were taken before we met, our experiences of that time were similar. The process of revisiting this part of my own past has been both interesting and fruitful: I understand more about how I was shaped by these events, and also about the fateful turns our world has taken since then. Meanwhile, the accounts of the people and events of those years are already becoming simplified, distilled, and distorted -- or so it seems to me. Even recent history deserves a closer and more first-hand look than the textbooks are likely to give.
I've just spent most of the afternoon immersed in "How Many Roads?"; what I especially enjoy is its balance of social criticism and tenderness. Evocative for those who lived this time but also resonant for those asking similar questions today.
Posted by: Duchesse | October 06, 2014 at 07:06 PM
Thank you, Duchesse! We're both happy that you've been enjoying the book, and are very glad to know that you picked up on the poignancy. I hope young people of today may find something to think about - and something attractive - about these times that seem still pretty near to a lot of us, but are practically ancient history to them!
Posted by: Beth | October 06, 2014 at 09:05 PM
Congratulations to Jonathan and to you, Beth! After all the years of work, it must feel glorious to see the beautiful results of your hard work. Fred and I are both eagerly looking forward to our copy of "How Many Roads?" Those were the years when we were finisheing university, married, got our first professional jobs and read about and watched on TV all that activity to the south of us. It's our history too.
Posted by: Marja-Leena | October 06, 2014 at 09:21 PM
Bravo bravissimo! Heartfelt congratulations to you both. I hope the book is a tremendous success and receives all the attention it deserves. Am off to order my copy now.
What a beautiful photo of Jonathan, looking at us with those soulful eyes!
Will you be posting pics (or video?) of the launch party?
Posted by: Natalie | October 07, 2014 at 07:00 AM
Just ordered hardcover with print for our family!! Will make a wonderful Christmas gift!!!! So excited for both of you!! Your hard work is paying off!!! Can't wait to receive it and maybe see you two sometime over the holidays??????
Love to you both!!
K &H
Posted by: Kathy Hughes | October 07, 2014 at 04:48 PM
Thank you, Marja-Leena and Fred! As we're finding in Montreal, too, the history of that period overlapped a lot in our two countries, and there are a lot of people here for whose personal histories were shaped by that time, too. I look forward to hearing your reactions to the book!
Natalie, thanks so much! (I like that picture of J. too.) Yes, I'm hoping that a good friend of ours will give us some of the photos he took at the lancement - we were both too busy that night to take any.
Kathy, thank you so much, and we definitely hope to see you and the family over the holidays!
Posted by: Beth | October 08, 2014 at 12:13 PM
I just placed my order and am very much looking forward to receiving my copy. It looks so beautiful and necessary. Thank you for making this testament to the soul of those times, the turning point for so many.
Posted by: Laura | October 09, 2014 at 03:24 PM
I'm placing my order. This sounds like the book I've been waiting for about this period.
Posted by: Hattie | October 10, 2014 at 12:19 PM
Congratulations to Jonathan! What a feeling that must be to open your own published book.
Posted by: Mary | October 10, 2014 at 07:30 PM
Just ordered. 'Twil be like coming home, in a sense. We spent half the sixties in Pennsylvania. Ah the dear sad face of McGovern - proof, if ever it were needed, that in the USA nice guys finish last.
Posted by: Roderick Robinson | October 11, 2014 at 03:21 AM