"In this mesmerizing book, even the hell it portrays can be beautiful." —Washington Post

"In this mesmerizing book, even the hell it portrays can be beautiful." —Washington Post

Ferdinand Protzman is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and journalist. He is the…

Ferdinand Protzman is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and journalist. He is the author of Landscape: Photographs of Time and Place, and Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places; his reviews and feature articles have appeared in such periodicals as the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and ARTnews. He lives in Kensington, Maryland.

Culled from National Geographic's vast photographic archive as well as other important…

Culled from National Geographic's vast photographic archive as well as other important collections, this fascinating, wide-ranging volume presents a wonderfully varied group portrait of people at work—in great cities and tiny villages; in 19th-century China and 21st-century New York; in fields, factories, food carts, four-star restaurants, and just about everywhere else we earn our keep. We see cowboys and clowns, dancers and dog groomers, miners and models. On one page, drill sergeants bark orders to U.S. Navy recruits; on another, young Tibetan monks study Buddhist scriptures; and on another, Kenyan women spread coffee beans to dry.

Work is a subject that is both worldwide and personal. It is a shared endeavor at the very core of our identity. From the glamour of a Parisian fashion show to the grit of an African diamond mine, there are countless ways to make a living. The book illuminates scores of them—many in never-before-published photographs—offering revealing glimpses into various eras and cultures and engaging the reader with entertaining text and informative captions.

With a wonderful mix of the utterly unexpected and the instantly familiar, this vivid panorama takes an essential human activity and shows us myriad ways in which work is at once universal and delightfully, unforgettably unique.