Jungle at the Door

This book documents the photography of Jan Myers in the wildlife refuges of India. Myers is a American photographer whose work appears in major museum collections and award-winning books. Most of the book consists of full-page photographic reproductions, printed without comment. Each is identified in a rear index where a small reproduction of each image is accompanied by information giving the location of the picture and identifying any animals that appear. The only text is a thoughtful and eloquent essay by Pulitzer Prize-nominated author William deBuys, who writes often on conservation topics. Myers' photographs are evocative as art, and more deeply informative than many images; she allows readers to see the natural blur or crispness of motion and atmosphere, and animals appear at their natural scale within scenes that will surprise viewers used to the close-up photography of animals in studios and zoos. The major presences that inhabit these photographs are the landscapes in which wild animals, people, and livestock appear, materializing through the greenness as astonishing and solid ghosts. Distributed by International Publishers Marketing. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)