The Chicago Blog

The Sunday edition of NPR's All Things Considered included a segment on Anne Whiston Spirn and her book, Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Field.

The NPR story begins where almost every mention of Lange begins, with the photograph titled "Migrant Mother." Spirn explains why Lange took that photograph and similar images that showed the destitute during the 1930s. Spirn also discusses her favorite Lange photograph, "Migratory Children Living in 'Rambler's Park,'" in which a roll of linoleum figures prominently.

We have an illustrated excerpt from the book.