If you liked Sold on a Monday and Beautiful Exiles, you’ll love this novel about strong-willed trailblazing photographer, Dorothea Lange, whose fame grew during World War II and the Great Depression. “Hooper excels at humanizing giants….seamlessly weaving together the time, places and people in Lange’s life…For photo buffs and others familiar with her vast body of work, reading the book will … familiar with her vast body of work, reading the book will be like discovering the secret backstory of someone they thought they knew.” —The Washington Post
In 1918, a fearless twenty-two-year old arrives in bohemian San Francisco from the Northeast, determined to make her own way as an independent woman. Renaming herself Dorothea Lange she is soon the celebrated owner of the city’s most prestigious and stylish portrait studio and wife of the talented but volatile painter, Maynard Dixon.
By the early 1930s, as America’s economy collapses, her marriage founders and Dorothea must find ways to support her two young sons single-handedly. Determined to expose the horrific conditions of the nation’s poor, she takes to the road with her camera, creating images that inspire, reform, and define the era. And when the United States enters World War II, Dorothea chooses to confront another injustice—the incarceration of thousands of innocent Japanese Americans.
At a time when women were supposed to keep the home fires burning, Dorothea Lange, creator of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century, dares to be different. But her choices came at a steep price…
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A powerful and timely view of America told through the lens of Dorothea Lange, a fascinating woman whose photographs shone a light on the nation’s forgotten and abandoned… Detailed and thoroughly immersive, Learning to See grips the reader and highlights an important period in American history.
Elise Hooper is a writer whose talents at clarity and empathy bring out the humanity of her historical subjects. Like her debut novel, THE OTHER ALCOTT, Hooper’s LEARNING TO SEE is an intimate portrait of one of history’s great, shadowed, female artists, photographer Dorothea Lange.
Most readers will be able to draw to mind the iconic Depression-era image of the poor, exhausted mother–gaze toward an uncertain future–flanked by dirty children. LEARNING TO SEE tells the journey of the woman who captured that image and hundreds like it. We see a girl of courage and spunk become a life-hardened woman of integrity and fire. The images Lange captures through her lens inform her growth, her choices, and the American public.
Hooper deftly balances the fascinating historical fabric of the novel with the personal life of its complicated protagonist. What results is a vivid and deep story that will send the reader to the internet seeking more.
Fans of Dawn Tripp’s GEORGIA and Depression to WWII-era historical fiction will be enthralled by Elise Hooper’s LEARNING TO SEE. I give it my highest recommendation.
Written with grace, empathy, and bright imagination, LEARNING TO SEE gives us the vivid interior life of a remarkably resilient woman. Dorothea Lange’s story is about passion and art, love and family, but also about the sacrifices women make — and have always made — to illuminate the truth of the world.
Elise Hooper’s Dorothea Lange is magnetic!… This is a winning novel from the first page.
“Well, the more I learn, I realized how little I know.”
Learning to See: A Novel of Dorothea Lange, the Woman Who Revealed the Real America by Elise Hooper (William Morrow, 384 pages, $15.99)
This enchanting novel is a poignant close-up of the awe-inspiring photographer Dorothea Lange, a strong-willed career woman ahead of her time. Elise Hooper draws a delightful story that spans Lange’s success behind the camera in California and across America. With heartwarming details of an early twentieth-century woman’s struggle to balance family, profession, and a passionate love of art, Hooper shows us why Lange was willing to sacrifice everything for what she believed was the greater good.
In 1918, twenty-two-year-old Dorothea Nutzhorn and her best friend arrive in San Francisco with plans to board a ship to travel the world, but a pickpocket takes all their money. The determined Dorothea renames herself Dorothea Lange and, with a little business savvy and a lot of talent with a camera, goes from being penniless to one of the most successful portrait photographers on the West Coast. Her high-society clientele and overnight success quickly gain her the attention of famous painter Maynard Dixon, whom she marries. Soon she has it all: she’s a wife, a mother of two boys, and a professional. Until the market crashes in 1929.
In 1930, the demands of her work and home life come to a head when the Great
Depression slows her studio business and the sales of her husband’s paintings drop to zero. Everything Dorothea has worked for—career, marriage, and family—unravels. Separated from her husband and with her sons in foster care, she takes to the streets to document the suffering of others with her camera. “If I was going to give up my family, every second needed to count. The sacrifice had to be worth something bigger than me.” And it isn’t long before her new photographs get the attention they deserve. The phone is ringing off the hook, a well-known professor from the University of California at Berkeley wants to use her work for a story, and she is back in business. Her freelance work leads to a job with the State Emergency Relief Administration. And it is then that Dorothea Lange snaps her famous shot, titled Migrant Mother, in 1936. The Berkeley professor becomes Dorothea Lange’s second husband—her true life partner and best friend.
Learning to See is a book you don’t want to put down; it’s a book you’ll pick up and hug long after you’ve turned the last page. A gem!
This book covered the life and art of photographer Dorothea Lange. She started out being a society photographer but moved into telling the pictorial story of the influence of the Great Depression of the 1930s on people’s lives.
I loved following the career of this strong, talented woman who broke the glass ceiling before it was the thing to do.
Interesting historical perspective about a persevering young woman chasing her dream. In spite of social stereotypes and prejudice, she is able to overcome many obstacles by sharing her unique perspectives both behind the camera and in living her life. Easy reading style.
Very engaging.
It was a little too fictionalized for what I was looking for.
The story of determined woman with good insights into the hardships of the Depression era.
A fascinating insight into the iconic US photographer and photographic journalist, Dorothea Lange.
I’d never heard of Dorothea Lange although I’d admired several of her photos of migrant families. What an incredible story and woman! Sadly, her life reflects the sacrifices women had to make to fit into a man’s world. This is a complexing book!
My parents were both photographers so I connected with the story as she as the same age as my parents. I learned so much about the story behind some of the more famous photographs by Dorothea Lang. Well worth reading.
A trailblazer, world-changer-just like her photography!
Ms. Hooper is a writer. Some will be taken instantly by her voice. I am more of Hemingway fan myself, so I could not get through Chapter 1.
well written engaging book
Good Historical Fiction
Factionalized biography with photos included!
I loved reading this book! I could easily imagine Dorothea taking the photos and then to find them at the end of the kindle edition, well that was the cherry on top!
You may not know Dorothea Lange’s name, but you would probably recognize the iconic images she captured during the Great Depression and the World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans. Hooper delves deep into Lange’s story, from her bohemian days in San Francisco to her challenging years on the road, bearing witness to injustice through her camera’s all-seeing eye.