Ansel Adams

Starred review from April 29, 1996
Alinder was Ansel Adams's caretaker, nurse and executive assistant from 1979 until the photographer's death in 1984 at the age of 82. This deeply felt, unauthorized biography provides a much fuller picture of Adams's turbulent personal life than his 1985 autobiography, which Alinder coauthored. Adams traveled often, leaving behind his wife, Virginia Best, and their two children; his numerous affairs and continual neglect drained her patience and love, nearly wrecking their marriage. Growing up in San Francisco, with frequent trips to the Yosemite Valley that he would immortalize in crisp, radiant photographs, Adams witnessed the unhappy, formal, proper marriage of his stern, domineering mother and mild father, who usually addressed each other as "Mrs. Adams" or "Mr. Adams." His adult personal life was often in shambles, and he never found emotional happiness, according to Alinder. After 1949, she writes, Adams, paralyzed by fear of failure, suffered creative burnout and turned increasingly from photography to environmental activism and writing. She also discusses his formative friendships with mentor Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe and with photographers Paul Strand, Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham. Photos.