This is a compilation of
photographs calling to mind the last thirty years of our popular culture as reflected on the pages of the
National Enquirer. "Unforgettable images," is indeed what we have here, starting with an elderly Elizabeth Taylor blowing us a kiss and an adoring Monica Lewinsky looking over President Bill Clinton's shoulder, Roseanne Barr scratching her crotch in parody of baseball players while singing terribly off-key the national anthem, and carrying us through sensational photographs of myriad entertainers, sports stars, politicians, noted criminals and victims, daredevils, moguls, social crusaders and numerous others who have captured our attention for a time with their actions and antics in and out of the public eye. The explanational captions are very well done. You start to look, and to read, and you can't stop. You are drawn on through to the end, only to find yourself turning back to look and read again. Then you seek out friends to show this and that image to, saying "Remember this?" Intermediary montages of child-photos, wedding photos, and funeral photos of prominent stars add poignancy. And the introduction and the afterword concerning the history of the National Enquirer's publication and its growing significance in our culture are both fascinating as well. If I had to choose personally the photos I found to be the most impactful, the most causing me to show them to others, I would have to list the inspirational photo of Rosemarie Homan, a productive citizen, wife and mother despite having had her entire lower body amputated as an infant, and, the disturbing pair of photos showing a topless Nicole Brown Simpson with her legs over the shoulders of "twenty something law clerk Brett Shaves" from 1993 and O.J. Simpson on the facing page from 1996 wearing the "size 12 Bruno Magli shoes" he denied owning during his trial for the murder of his former wife Nicole and Ron Goldman. The caption explains that this photo was only found after O.J. had been acquitted of the murder, but that it entered into consideration in the Brown and Goldman families subsequent wrongful death lawsuits against him. A surprising number of animals make appearances in the book, but likely the single most photographed individual was Elvis Presley...no surprise. The large-format book was first published in 2001 by Hyperion's Miramax books. The ISBN is 0-7868-6848-1 and the cost was recently $21.95 at Barnes and Noble.
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