Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

For this project, Ukrainian-born Maslov photographed 53 veterans of World War II from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Finland, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sri Lanka, India, China, and Japan. Not all of the subjects fought as soldiers: the French Resistance is represented, as are women nurses and a female field worker in Russia. A Japanese woman recounts how long it took her to come to terms with America's bombing of Hiroshima. A common experience shared over time is that regardless of which side one fought on, having served one's country trumps national enmity. Maslov shot photographs in the subjects' homes, letting them choose the setting and using a color-loaded electric palette that enhances rather than reduces the subject. Then he asked them to talk. The result is an outstanding photographic essay accompanied by moving stories. Without Maslov's intervention, this is a valuable piece of history that would have been lost. -VERDICT Those interested in World War II photography will love this book, which echoes the famous midcentury photo exhibition The Family of Man but stands on its own as an act of appreciation approaching love from a master photographer.-David Keymer, Cleveland © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.