Hine, Lewis W. Lewis W. Hine and the American Social Conscience by Judith Mara Gutman.

Walker and Company, 1967. First edition, hardcover in cloth, good without dust jacket.  Rubber stamp of an unnamed college art department on flyleaves. Damp stain on rear cover. Worn at base of spine. Small red dot at top of text block. See photos for other spots of wear on covers. Interior pages fine.  156 pages.  Texts: Lewis Hine (biography), Bibliography. Photos: chapters on Immigrants, Children - Mostly Working, Adults Out of the New IndustrialImage, Europe Durng and After World War I, Men and Power, Small Town and Rural America in the ’30s.  Essential reference on Hine (1874–1940), one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century.  Includes photos not often seen in other publications. Summary: 

Lewis W. Hine and the American Social Conscience is a pioneering biography and critical study of the American photographer Lewis Wickes Hine (1874–1940), written by historian Judith Mara Gutman. The book spans 156 pages and combines numerous black-and-white photographs by Hine with Gutman’s contextual analysis of his life, work, and impact. It remains regarded as a model study of Hine’s career and vital contributions to social documentary photography.

Gutman frames Hine not merely as a photographer but as a visual social reformer whose work helped shape public consciousness around pressing social issues. She examines how Hine used his camera to document immigration at Ellis Island, child labor in factories and fields, industrial workers, and urban life in early twentieth-century America, transforming photography into a tool for social critique and advocacy. Many of the nearly 100 reproduced images had not been widely published before this volume, offering readers a broad view of his photographic vision.

The narrative situates Hine’s imagery alongside the social and political currents of his time, showing how his pictures contributed to progressive reform movements, especially those targeting child labor and poor working conditions. Gutman’s text and the rich visual material together illustrate both Hine’s deep humanitarian concern and his belief that photography could influence public opinion and policy.

In summary, the book is both a chronological biography and an interpretive study, celebrating Hine’s commitment to social conscience through photography and securing his place as one of the most important figures in American social documentary photography.