Weegee: Murder Is My Business

Published in conjunction with a 2012 exhibition at New York's International Center of Photography (ICP), this is a serious look at the photographer Arthur Fellig (1899–1968), known as "Weegee the Famous," his nom de camera. Weegee achieved fame in New York in the 1930s and 40s for his on-the-scene coverage of gang violence, particularly mob murders. As was the case with all photography at the time, his public medium was through publication, in Weegee's case the many sensational tabloids printed in New York in the prewar years. With essays by ICP staff and three academic authors, this is the most ambitious book on the self-invented godfather of crime photography. Less about the actual photographs than ICP's 2006 exhibition (Unknown Weegee) and more about the photographer, the book is particularly illuminating about the Jewish Lower East Side milieu in which the photographer grew up and about the criminal culture he documented. Between the essays are heavily illustrated visual dossiers (with photos by Weegee and others) on urban disorder, the tabloid press, and Weegee and the Photo League. The book is well designed, the writing is accessible, and the subject behind the camera is fascinating as well.