Looking at LIFE Magazine

Looking at LIFE Magazine focuses on how the magazine, in its editorial and especially its pictorial style, played a leading role in shaping American national identity from the Great depression through the Vietnam War. The thirteen contributors discuss how and why Life became so popular, what political and social views it reflected and projected, how the editors tried to create an image of a unified and classless nation, and why that vision and the magazine itself ultimately failed. In essays ranging from Life's coverage of civil rights, sexuality, and the atomic bomb to its treatment of religion, masculinity, and the counterculture, the contributors explore Life's style and public response, demonstrating the magazine's important place in American cultural History.