This is a fascinating study of the career of August Sander - one of the 20th-century's finest photographers. Considered one of the great 20th century photographers, August Sander's career spanned the pre-World War I, Weimar and National Socialist periods. Sander's grand project was to compile a collective portrait of the German people and he set about this task by photo-graphing persons from all walks of life, according to his own idiosyncratic and constantly changing categories of social "types." While his portraits record the social stratifications of the era, his perceptive, dignified treatment of each sitter overrides the prevailing distinctions between classes and races. George Steeves traces Sander's career chronologically, showing how the photographer's personality won the trust of his sitters and protected him from Nazi persecution. It concludes with a discussion of the posthumous editions of Sander's projected People of the 20th Century (more than 600 portraits), the book he had always dreamed of but was unable to realize.