I first became aware of Margaret Bourke-White from the 1982 film “Gandhi” directed by Sir Richard Attenborough where she was portrayed by Candice Bergen. I don’t recall at this point what prompted me to go looking for this particular book, or if I was even looking for it. I suspect I was just looking for collections of her work, and stumbled upon this 1943 third printing edition SIGNED by the woman herself.

It’s taken me a couple of years to actually open the book, but once I got rolling I read though the bulk of it in a week. She and her at the time husband Erskine Caldwell were permitted to travel to Soviet Russia in the Spring of 1941 though October of the same year. It’s her first hand account of her time there, what she saw, and what she photographed as the Soviets fought to hold the Nazi invasion. I have become more fascinated by history as I’ve gotten older, especially 20th century history, and I treasure this artifact from 80 years ago.

I think it’s out of print, but there are likely used copies that can be found. It’s only about 280 pages of reading, standard hardcover narrative book size, and there are several full page printings of her black and white photographs. Highly recommended if you like history and photography.