The Last Of The Nuba
Leni Riefenstahl
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Harper & Row; 1st U.S. ed edition (1974)
ISBN: 0060135492
Overall Rating: 4 Stars 
Readability: 3 Stars
Photography: 4½ Stars
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this book
The Last Of The Nuba is a book that has been floating around
for a very long time. It is a book of photographs by the famous
German cinematographer Leni Riefenstahl of the Nuba tribesmen
of central Sudan. The book is an incredible photographic depiction
of this fascinating tribe. The photographs taken in the 1960's
are excellent, but technically lacking by today's rigorous standards.
While many of the photos are excellent, many are grainy and of
a questionable exposure. However, they carry strong emotional
impact that inspires the reader to excuse the technical faults.
There is a short text at the beginning of each chapter that provides
a short explanation of the upcoming subject matter. The text does
not seem to be written by Riefenstahl, but there is no acknowledged
credit to the author of the text anywhere in the book. Each chapter
has a section of short captions that delineate the actions of
each picture in the book. While the information offered by the
text is brief, it does offer, when coupled with the photo, a remarkable
amount of information. Reprinted most recently in 1995 The Last
Of The Nuba is a remarkable ethnographic photo-documentary about
a people and region that even today is nearly inaccessible.
