Flash The Making of Weegee the Famou..., Christopher Bonanos
Flash The Making of Weegee the Famou..., Christopher Bonanos
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Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous

Author: Christopher Bonanos

Narrator: Graham Halstead

Unabridged: 12 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/05/2018


Synopsis

National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography

The first definitive biography of Weegee the Famous—photographer, psychic, fiend—from Christoper Bonanos, author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid.

Arthur Fellig’s ability to arrive at a crime scene just as the cops did was so uncanny that he renamed himself “Weegee,” claiming that he functioned as a human Ouija board. Weegee documented better than any other photographer the crime, grit, and complex humanity of midcentury New York City. In Flash, we get a portrait not only of the man (both flawed and deeply talented, with generous appetites for publicity, women, and hot pastrami) but also of the fascinating time and place that he occupied.

From self-taught immigrant kid to newshound to art-world darling to latter-day caricature—moving from the dangerous streets of New York City to the celebrity culture of Los Angeles and then to Europe for a quixotic late phase of experimental photography and filmmaking—Weegee lived a life just as worthy of documentation as the scenes he captured. With Flash, we have an unprecedented and ultimately moving view of the man now regarded as an innovator and a pioneer, an artist as well as a newsman, whose photographs are among most powerful images of urban existence ever made.

About Christopher Bonanos

Christopher Bonanos is city editor at New York magazine, where he covers arts and culture and urban affairs. He is the author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid and Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. He lives in New York City with his wife and their son.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John on March 09, 2021

As someone who loves film noir, hard boiled detective and crime fiction, and midcentury jazz, it's no surprise I love Weegee's photography, and have for years. I never knew a lot about Weegee (born Usher Felig, Americanized to Arthur Fellig) until now -- and I have to say, what I've learned is prett......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on August 11, 2020

Think of an old-time newspaper photographer of the 1930s through the 1950s. He (it's always a he) has a fedora with a card in the brim, reading PRESS, right?. He wears a rumpled suit and chomps a cigar, right. And he carries a huge bellows Speed-Graphic camera with a giant flash attachment, right? Yo......more

Goodreads review by Bonnye Reed on June 05, 2018

GNab Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous is an excellent biography of the life and times of Arthur Fellig. Arriving in New York City in 1910 from Eastern Europe, Arthur was one of seven children. And though he was hungry, frightened, unable to speak English and only ten years old, Arthur (born U......more

Goodreads review by Bruce on June 23, 2018

A fascinating portrait of the 1930s and 40s New York City freelance photographer whose stark nighttime photos of murder victims, fires, and auto accidents—and their spectators—brought spot news photographer into the light. It’s also the classic story of a lonely immigrant reinventing himself in an o......more

Goodreads review by Lee on June 16, 2018

Christopher Bonanos is an excellent reporter and writer and this book is a fascinating look at how we got where are we with the papparazzi and the creation of this celebrity culture from the most famous one ever!......more


Quotes

"Flash is a crackling portrait of a man and his eraas immediate and as alive as Weegee's pictures themselves. Chris Bonanos vivifies not only his subject, but the long lost New York that he lived in, and that made him."
—Daniel Okrent, New York Times bestselling author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

“Weegee, in addition to being one of the greatest photographers ever, was a cartoon character and something of a living myth. This has confused perception for the better part of eighty years. Christopher Bonanos's nuanced and sympathetic account succeeds in merging those three aspects—not only was a lot of the bluster for real, but even the pure baloney was hard-won and contextually grounded. His is a sweet and melancholy book and a doorway into a mostly misremembered past.”
—Luc Sante, author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York

"[T]he charismatic Weegee takes the listener on a thrill ride." -AudioFile


Awards

  • Library Journal Best Books of the Year
  • National Book Critics Circle Award - Nominee
  • National Book Critics Circle Award - Winner