Strange Days, Dangerous Nights

the long version

"For three decades, starting in the 1930s and ending in the 1950s, the Speed Graphic camera was synonymous with photojournalism. Championed by acclaimed photographers like Arthur Fellig (a.k.a. Weegee), the Speed Graphic was lightweight and incredibly durable - and it could produce stunning images. Press photographers of the day created a new visual style that was as blunt, powerful, and immediate as a left hook." "Driven by the desire to fill newspaper pages with sensational images, press photographers shot everything, day and night: automobile accidents, fires, murders, all the cop news that fought for a hot spot on the Front Page. They also covered uncounted numbers of civic affairs - pictures called "grip-and-grins" in the trade: school events, sports, celebrities, oddities both of nature and humanity." "Veteran journalist and mystery writer Larry Millett has unearthed over 200 such images from the archives of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the St. Paul Dispatch. He tells the stories behind the pictures and offers brief biographies of some of these pioneering photographers."--BOOK JACKET.