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Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
James Agee Book Review

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Plot Summary of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
"In 1936, writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans were sent to the Deep South to do a story on sharecropping cotton farmers. Like the Mississippi, the project overran its banks and the article never ran. The result instead is a lush, rambling meditation on poverty, farming, animals, racism, and three families whose lives are dissected exhaustively along with 62 photographs of them and their surroundings. Agee calls himself a "spy" and worries about prying into the private miseries of these individuals for the entertainment of casual readers; his prose seems Biblical in its verbosity, repetition, and majesty. He discusses the families' homes and precious few belongings in minute detail, work, finances, clothing, education (what little there is of it), and all the creatures in the area. The result is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of style and close reporting tempered by massive compassion and humility."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Life of a profession: - farmer
Other aspects: - story of the poor
Poverty, surviving Yes
Kind of living: - general poverty story
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Job/Profession/Status story Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 (a significant amount)
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Amount of dialog - little dialog
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A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren
The Pearl by John Steinbeck


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