Extra! Weegee

No photographer came close to capturing the sensations, scandals, and catastrophes of 1930s and '40s New York like Weegee (1899-1968). His striking images--captured through his uncanny ability to be on the spot and ready to shoot when things happened--have become part of the visual vocabulary through which we understand the period. This book, however, offers something new: drawing on an NEA archive that was only discovered in 2012, it presents countless never-before-seen Weegee photos. We see new angles on many of his familiar subjects--from the hardened police officer to the loud-mouthed crook; the midnight boozer to the dancing jazz musician; a dramatic conflagration to the celebrations at the end of World War II--but we also get a glimpse of an unknown side of Weegee through surprising photographs of happy people enjoying themselves. The works are complemented by a fascinating account of the rediscovery of the archive, which had been missing for decades.