Handsome and collectible, the books are produced to the highest standards. Each volume contains full-page reproductions printed in superb duotone, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography. Now back in print, the series was awarded the first annual prize for distinguished photographic books by the International Center of Photography. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1938, Koudelka left the country in 1968 and was awarded asylum in England. He had already produced two first-class reportages, one on the Prague Spring and its aftermath and the other on gypsy communities in Romania. This book confirms and illustrates Koudelka's powerful gift for exposing conditions in the European social, political, and physical landscape.