Beautiful photographs and enlightening commentary make this a wonderwall of a book.
A photographic look at the Britpop pioneers.
Furmanovsky has long been considered one of the greatest rock photographers ever, known for her images of, among others, Bob Dylan, Amy Winehouse, and Stevie Wonder. She is particularly well known for chronicling the Britpop pioneers Oasis from 1994 to the band’s dissolution in 2009. (They notably reunited in 2024.) Her book collects more than 500 images—photographs, film strips, contract prints—mostly taken during the band’s mid-1990s heyday, which saw the release of the hit albums Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Some come from photo shoots, which Oasis co-frontman Noel Gallagher, who provides commentary throughout the book, admits he hates—and indeed, much of those photographs depict undisguised scowls from Noel and his brother, Liam. They’re beautiful pictures, but what really stand out are the candid shots, especially of the band performing. (These were not always easy to get, Furmanovsky writes: “Noel and Liam never stood together…the only way to get both of them in one picture during a performance was to take a photo when one walked past the other.”) Noel’s additions to the book are frequently hilarious: One photo, which shows fans in Philadelphia holding a sign that says “WE GOT POT” is accompanied by Noel’s text, “Yeah, if ever a band was not fucking weed smoking, it was Oasis. That ain’t going to get you backstage at an Oasis gig. If you said, ‘We’ve got cocaine,’ we’d have been like, ‘Right, get them in!’” Also providing excellent commentary by way of essays are publicist Johnny Hopkins and writers Simon Spence and Laura Barton. In her introduction, Furmanovsky calls photographing Oasis “the greatest chapter in my working life.” Paging through this joyful collection will make readers understand why.
Beautiful photographs and enlightening commentary make this a wonderwall of a book.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780500030646
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
