Every year twelve million Americans are arrested and photographed by the police. In many ways, mug shots are our history. Using a dazzling selection of mug shots that are arrestingly raw in their starkness and strangely eloquent in their simplicity, this absorbing, humorous, penetrating collection sheds a whole new light on our rebellious ways.
From political icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Angela Davis, to A-list celebrities Hugh Grant and 50 Cent, from killer Ted Kaczynski to the actor who aided in Abraham Lincoln's assassination, from prisoners of Auschwitz to Saddam Hussein, all of them declare a simple truth: The last 150 years told through police photography is truly our alternative history. Author Giacomo Papi's brisk and insightful commentary enlightens us with intriguing backstories and little-known facts.
