The Blitz

A selection of George Rodger's powerful photographs of the London blitz, taken originally for "Life Magazine" between August and November 1940. As photography was a "restricted" profession, Rodger was not conscripted and he found himself free to cover what he liked. And since "Life" has a reciprocal relationship with "Picture Post", many of his pictures found their way into the English magazine-though it was the role his pictures played in bringing home to Americans the predicament of the British people that brought him most satisfaction and most fame. Some of the photographs in the book are famous, some completely unknown. They show children, air raids, burnt-down shops, royalty, the civil forces and in their entirety they magnificently capture the spirit of wartime London.