Schapiro's Heroes

Schapiro’s Heroes brings together an extraordinary collection of stories in the photo-journalistic tradition of people who have shaped our lives, our politics, and our tastes by the celebrated documentarian Steve Schapiro. In behind-the-scenes photographs, we visit the young Muhammad Ali and his Monopoly set, followed everywhere by the neighborhood kids; glimpse the warm family life and campaign of Robert Kennedy, who was so suddenly struck down; see Andy Warhol in photographs never before published; watch Ray Charles perform; visit the set with Samuel Beckett; and march alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the most respected American documentary photographers, Steve Schapiro has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. His heroes are the iconic men and women who have influenced the political and cultural climate of our times. Schapiro’s Heroes is a rare and intimate glimpse of a major period of American history, photographed during the golden age of photojournalism by one of the major talents of the late twentieth century.

Steve Schapiro has photographed cover stories for most of the world’s most prominent magazines, including Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, SI, Rolling Stone, People, and Paris Match. He photographed on set for The Godfather, Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver, and Chinatown. His work is in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Institute. His previous book, entitled American Edge (Arena, 2000), was recognized for excellence by The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and other publications. Schapiro is represented by Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles.

David Friend, Vanity Fair’s editor of creative development and formerly Life’s director of photography, is the author of Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006).