L'Americain: A Photojournalist's Life

Before television, the great picture magazines captured world events for millions of readers. They sent correspondents and photojournalists to the ends of the earth to record history in the making. Among this elite was the photographer, John Launois. During the 1960s and 1970s, the final decades of the “golden age of photojournalism,” John Launois blossomed as one of the most resourceful, inventive, prolific, highly paid, and widely traveled photojournalists at work during that period.

Launois made himself the master of the deeply researched photo essay, and his published work appeared in Life, The Saturday Evening Post, National Geographic, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Look, Rolling Stone, Paris Match, London’s Sunday Times, and many other American, European, and Asian publications.

This is his story told in his own words: from his youth amid the poverty and terror of German-occupied France during World War II when he dreamed of coming to America, to his lean “noodle years” in the Far East as he struggled to master his craft, to his years in America as a successful photographer and globetrotting adventurer. It was during this time that he recorded some of the most iconic images of the period—presidents, the Beatles, Malcolm X, wars, riots, and natural disasters. He also writes very candidly of the terrible toll the demands of his work imposed on his family, his loves, and himself. Through it all, he mingled with the rich, powerful, and downtrodden alike, always marveling that he had come so far.

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L'Americain: A Photojournalist's Life

Before television, the great picture magazines captured world events for millions of readers. They sent correspondents and photojournalists to the ends of the earth to record history in the making. Among this elite was the photographer, John Launois. During the 1960s and 1970s, the final decades of the “golden age of photojournalism,” John Launois blossomed as one of the most resourceful, inventive, prolific, highly paid, and widely traveled photojournalists at work during that period.

Launois made himself the master of the deeply researched photo essay, and his published work appeared in Life, The Saturday Evening Post, National Geographic, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Look, Rolling Stone, Paris Match, London’s Sunday Times, and many other American, European, and Asian publications.

This is his story told in his own words: from his youth amid the poverty and terror of German-occupied France during World War II when he dreamed of coming to America, to his lean “noodle years” in the Far East as he struggled to master his craft, to his years in America as a successful photographer and globetrotting adventurer. It was during this time that he recorded some of the most iconic images of the period—presidents, the Beatles, Malcolm X, wars, riots, and natural disasters. He also writes very candidly of the terrible toll the demands of his work imposed on his family, his loves, and himself. Through it all, he mingled with the rich, powerful, and downtrodden alike, always marveling that he had come so far.

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L'Americain: A Photojournalist's Life

L'Americain: A Photojournalist's Life

L'Americain: A Photojournalist's Life

L'Americain: A Photojournalist's Life

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Overview

Before television, the great picture magazines captured world events for millions of readers. They sent correspondents and photojournalists to the ends of the earth to record history in the making. Among this elite was the photographer, John Launois. During the 1960s and 1970s, the final decades of the “golden age of photojournalism,” John Launois blossomed as one of the most resourceful, inventive, prolific, highly paid, and widely traveled photojournalists at work during that period.

Launois made himself the master of the deeply researched photo essay, and his published work appeared in Life, The Saturday Evening Post, National Geographic, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Look, Rolling Stone, Paris Match, London’s Sunday Times, and many other American, European, and Asian publications.

This is his story told in his own words: from his youth amid the poverty and terror of German-occupied France during World War II when he dreamed of coming to America, to his lean “noodle years” in the Far East as he struggled to master his craft, to his years in America as a successful photographer and globetrotting adventurer. It was during this time that he recorded some of the most iconic images of the period—presidents, the Beatles, Malcolm X, wars, riots, and natural disasters. He also writes very candidly of the terrible toll the demands of his work imposed on his family, his loves, and himself. Through it all, he mingled with the rich, powerful, and downtrodden alike, always marveling that he had come so far.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781935212621
Publisher: Easton Studio Press, LLC
Publication date: 10/15/2013
Pages: 416
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

John Launois was born in France in l928, survived the German Occupation during World War II, and became an American citizen in l954. He soon became one of the top photojournalists in the world. His photographs appeared both inside and on the covers of all the great magazines of the day: Fortune, Time, Life, Newsweek, Look, Rolling Stone, National Geographic. He died in 2002. The New York Times described him as "one of the top international photojournalists in the l960s, covering wars, revolutions, the Beatles, environmental pollution, the Soviet Union and Malcolm X's final pilgrimage to Cairo."

Chris Pan Launois is John Launois' son and coauthor. He was born in New York City in l964. He is a musician and composer, founded of the band Pan, and attended New York University Film School.

Table of Contents

Introduction Donald S. Connery

Prologue Chris Pan Launois

Occupation 12

Rebellion 36

Departure 47

Yank 62

Rising Sun 75

Civilian 88

Noodle Years 98

Eye of the Storm 116

First Class 120

L'Âme Enchantée 125

Artillery Fire 134

The Back Door 136

The Small Kingdom 142

Typhoon 150

The Deepest Ocean 154

Homecoming 158

National Geographic 166

Right to Know 185

Forbidden Land 188

Life 206

City of Song 216

Timing Is Everything 219

Manhattan 224

The Saturday Evening Post 229

The new Frontier 242

American Son 247

Giants 250

Hard Day's Night 256

Malcolm X 264

A Good Fight 274

An Army of Women 287

Kiss on the Cheeks 305

Good Pictures 308

Fifty Years of Thunder 325

End of an Era 332

The Belly of Paris 340

On Assignment 354

Shadows of the Jungle 360

Survival's Path 376

Oasis 386

The Promise 395

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Index

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