RaveLibrary Journal... illuminating ... a sympathetic yet clear-eyed portrayal of the photographer’s life and career ... Gefter details his subject’s milieu vividly, a circle encompassing a generation of cultural icons ... Readers will relish the insider accounts of how famous images came to be made ... Avedon’s development as an artist is described alongside juicy bits of his social and professional relationships, all supported by meticulous research from interviews, archives, and published resources ... The perceptive author lays out these many contradictions in Avedon’s life, including mixed critical reviews that evidence a continual tension between commercial photography and fine art, contributing to Avedon’s own insecurity about his place in the art world ... With this engrossing biography, readers will come away with a greater appreciation of Avedon’s artistic strengths and achievements, as well as the complex man behind the camera.