Everyone who picks up a newspaper is used to seeing photos credited to the Associated Press (AP). Not so long ago, United Press International (UPI) photographers worked the trenches “shoulder to shoulder” with their AP rivals.

UPI’s rise and fall has been chronicled by other journalists, but this is the first tribute to its incredible wealth of photographic history. Although underpaid and overworked, UPI photographers and photo editors churned out remarkable visuals.

In Picture This, Haynes has assembled an amazing collection of black-and-white photos that is a mere representation of the more than 11-million photos contained in archives preserved by Bill Gates’ Corbis group. Like history itself, the mood of the photos range from humorous to somber to devastating to profound. This is not a volume for the faint of heart, as some of the photos stem from intense tragedy; but these images should never be forgotten.

Words cannot describe what UPI—and AP—photographers have endured to record history as it happens. To that, the rest of the world owes them an everlasting debt of gratitude.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
9/4/2006

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