American Hopscotch

The United States has often been rendered most astutely by enlightened outsiders: Tocqueville, Hitchcock, Alistair Cooke. For the past 40 years one such canny picaroon has been in our midst— Scotsman and V.F. contributor Harry Benson (a U.S. citizen since 1999), the former Fleet Street lensman exemplar who has gone on to become one of his adopted land's foremost photojournalists. In his new book, Harry Benson's America (Abrams), the man who has photographed every president since Eisenhower offers a collection of extraordinarily perceptive— and rarely seen—images of grand Yankees in all their glory: buoyant (French-born American Diana Vreeland, all aglow, at right), spiritual (Ethel Kennedy and family praying), tacky (Donny and Marie Osmond downing burgers), and valiant (a Kuwait-bound General Norman Schwarzkopf). Come climb into this front-row seat to watch the American parade.

DAVID FRIEND