Borrow it
Coverart for item
The Resource The kissing sailor : the mystery behind the photo that ended World War II, by Lawrence Verria & George Galdorisi ; foreword by David Hartman

The kissing sailor : the mystery behind the photo that ended World War II, by Lawrence Verria & George Galdorisi ; foreword by David Hartman

Creator
Contributor
Summary
"On August 14, 1945, Alfred Eisenstaedt took a picture of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, minutes after they heard of Japan's surrender to the United States. Two weeks later LIFE magazine published that image. It became one of the most famous WWII photographs in history, a cherished reminder of what it felt like for the war to finally be over. Everyone who saw the picture wanted to know more about the nurse and sailor, but Eisenstaedt had no information and a search for the mysterious couple's identity took on a dimension of its own. In 1979 Eisenstaedt thought he had found the long lost nurse. And as far as almost everyone could determine, he had. For the next thirty years Edith Shain was known as the woman in the photo of V-J Day, 1945, Times Square. In 1980 LIFE attempted to determine the sailor's identity . Many aging warriors stepped forward with claims, and experts weighed in to support one candidate over another. Chaos ensued. For almost two decades Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi were intrigued by the controversy surrounding the identity of the two principals in Eisenstaedt's most famous photograph and collected evidence that began to shed light on this mystery. Unraveling years of misinformation and controversy, their findings propelled one claimant's case far ahead of the others and, at the same time, dethroned the supposed kissed nurse when another candidate's claim proved more credible. With this book, the authors solve the 67-year-old mystery by providing irrefutable proof to identify the couple in Eisenstaedt's photo. It is the first time the whole truth behind the celebrated picture has been revealed. The authors also bring to light the couple's and the photographer's brushes with death that nearly prevented their famous spontaneous Times Square meeting in the first place. The sailor, part of Bull Halsey's famous task force, survived the deadly typhoon that took the lives of hundreds of other sailors. The nurse, an Austrian Jew who lost her mother and father in the Holocaust, barely managed to escape to the United States. Eisenstaedt, a World War I German soldier, was nearly killed at Flanders
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xx, 267 pages
Contents
  • Practically picture-perfect. The photo ; The place where people meet ; The publication
  • The true story of the kiss. The duck from Portuguee Island ; The saved ; The model ; The father of photojournalism ; Morning, V-J Day, 1945 ; She looked like a nurse ; The last day of leave ; In search of the picture ; The kiss ; Pictures from V-J Day
  • The after LIFE. No one seemed to notice ; Eisenstaedt names the nurse ; LIFE's invitation ; I'm the real kissing sailor ; For dissemination of news
  • The case for George and Greta. The forensics ; You want to believe them all ; More plot than proof ; Considerations ; A mountain of evidence ; Indisputable? : the case for Greta
  • What happened to the truth? The carnival ; The circus ; The current ; A Leica's notes
Isbn
9781612510781
Instance
Label
The kissing sailor : the mystery behind the photo that ended World War II
Title
The kissing sailor
Title remainder
the mystery behind the photo that ended World War II
Statement of responsibility
by Lawrence Verria & George Galdorisi ; foreword by David Hartman
Creator
Contributor
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"On August 14, 1945, Alfred Eisenstaedt took a picture of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, minutes after they heard of Japan's surrender to the United States. Two weeks later LIFE magazine published that image. It became one of the most famous WWII photographs in history, a cherished reminder of what it felt like for the war to finally be over. Everyone who saw the picture wanted to know more about the nurse and sailor, but Eisenstaedt had no information and a search for the mysterious couple's identity took on a dimension of its own. In 1979 Eisenstaedt thought he had found the long lost nurse. And as far as almost everyone could determine, he had. For the next thirty years Edith Shain was known as the woman in the photo of V-J Day, 1945, Times Square. In 1980 LIFE attempted to determine the sailor's identity . Many aging warriors stepped forward with claims, and experts weighed in to support one candidate over another. Chaos ensued. For almost two decades Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi were intrigued by the controversy surrounding the identity of the two principals in Eisenstaedt's most famous photograph and collected evidence that began to shed light on this mystery. Unraveling years of misinformation and controversy, their findings propelled one claimant's case far ahead of the others and, at the same time, dethroned the supposed kissed nurse when another candidate's claim proved more credible. With this book, the authors solve the 67-year-old mystery by providing irrefutable proof to identify the couple in Eisenstaedt's photo. It is the first time the whole truth behind the celebrated picture has been revealed. The authors also bring to light the couple's and the photographer's brushes with death that nearly prevented their famous spontaneous Times Square meeting in the first place. The sailor, part of Bull Halsey's famous task force, survived the deadly typhoon that took the lives of hundreds of other sailors. The nurse, an Austrian Jew who lost her mother and father in the Holocaust, barely managed to escape to the United States. Eisenstaedt, a World War I German soldier, was nearly killed at Flanders
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Verria, Lawrence
Dewey number
940.54/5973092
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
D816
LC item number
.V47 2012
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorDate
1948-
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
  • Verria, Lawrence
  • Galdorisi, George
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Mendonsa, George
  • Friedman, Greta
  • Eisenstaedt, Alfred
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • V-J Day, 1945
  • Sailors
  • Nurses
  • Photographs
  • Sailors
  • Times Square (New York, N.Y.)
Label
The kissing sailor : the mystery behind the photo that ended World War II, by Lawrence Verria & George Galdorisi ; foreword by David Hartman
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 250-258) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Practically picture-perfect. The photo ; The place where people meet ; The publication -- The true story of the kiss. The duck from Portuguee Island ; The saved ; The model ; The father of photojournalism ; Morning, V-J Day, 1945 ; She looked like a nurse ; The last day of leave ; In search of the picture ; The kiss ; Pictures from V-J Day -- The after LIFE. No one seemed to notice ; Eisenstaedt names the nurse ; LIFE's invitation ; I'm the real kissing sailor ; For dissemination of news -- The case for George and Greta. The forensics ; You want to believe them all ; More plot than proof ; Considerations ; A mountain of evidence ; Indisputable? : the case for Greta -- What happened to the truth? The carnival ; The circus ; The current ; A Leica's notes
Dimensions
22 cm.
Extent
xx, 267 pages
Isbn
9781612510781
Isbn Type
(hbk. : alk. paper)
Lccn
2012007542
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • ocn757469507
  • (OCoLC)757469507
Label
The kissing sailor : the mystery behind the photo that ended World War II, by Lawrence Verria & George Galdorisi ; foreword by David Hartman
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 250-258) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Practically picture-perfect. The photo ; The place where people meet ; The publication -- The true story of the kiss. The duck from Portuguee Island ; The saved ; The model ; The father of photojournalism ; Morning, V-J Day, 1945 ; She looked like a nurse ; The last day of leave ; In search of the picture ; The kiss ; Pictures from V-J Day -- The after LIFE. No one seemed to notice ; Eisenstaedt names the nurse ; LIFE's invitation ; I'm the real kissing sailor ; For dissemination of news -- The case for George and Greta. The forensics ; You want to believe them all ; More plot than proof ; Considerations ; A mountain of evidence ; Indisputable? : the case for Greta -- What happened to the truth? The carnival ; The circus ; The current ; A Leica's notes
Dimensions
22 cm.
Extent
xx, 267 pages
Isbn
9781612510781
Isbn Type
(hbk. : alk. paper)
Lccn
2012007542
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • ocn757469507
  • (OCoLC)757469507

Subject

Genre

Library Locations

    • Vancouver Public Library, Central LibraryBorrow it
      350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 6B1, CA
      49.280188 -123.114755

Library Links

Structured data from the Bibframe namespace is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Vancouver Public Library. Additional terms may apply to data associated with third party namespaces.