OPINIONSnLife, Interpreted Lueely by Allan C. Carlsonnwhere the pictures for the page atone. “n—Alexander PopenLife: The Second Decaden1946-1955; Photographs selected bynDoris C. O’Neil; Little, Brown;nBoston.nNo contemporary could write promotionncopy quite like HenrynLuce. His 1936 prospectus for a newnmagazine featuring photographs, tentativelyncalled The Show-Book of thenWorld, still has few equals:nTo see life; to see the world; toneyewitness great events; tonwatch the faces of the poor andnthe gestures of the proud; to seenstrange things—machines,narmies, multitudes, shadows innthe jungle and on the moon; tonsee man’s work—his paintings,ntowers and discoveries; to seenthings thousands of miles away,nthings hidden behind walls andnwithin rooms, things dangerousnto come to; the women thatnmen love and many children;nto see and to take pleasure innseeing; to see and be amazed;nto see and be instructed. . . .n[This] is the mission nownundertaken by a new kind ofnpublication.nUnder its more familiar name, Life didntransform journalism in America.nPrior to its appearance, photographsnwere still considered to be the vulgarnand trivial side of the magazine trade.nLuce, however, understood the magicnof the still shot, its ability to arousenemotions, to convey immediacy, tontell a story. Employing new innovationsnin high-speed printing, he introducednthe weekly magazine, price IO0nAllan Carlson is executive vicenpresident of The Rockford Institute.n6 / CHRONICLES OF CULTUREna copy, that delivered the world innpictures to the American middle class.nWith all of human existence as itsnsubject. Life in the early years presentedna jumbled melange of newsnreports, features, shorts, and singlenphotos, material that often blendedninto the sensationalistie, the mildlynerode, and the weird. Yet contrary tonthe predictions of the experts, the formulanworked. For several years, demandnfor the new magazine exceedednsupply. Circulation climbed rapidly,nreaching five million by the earlyn1940’s. During the war, the magazinenactually seemed to be transformed intona symbol of America, becoming annnnational institution as familiar as thenbaseball diamond.nYet publishing success did not longnsatisfy Luce. Restlessly, he sought tonturn the magazine into somethingnmore. An editorial page was added inn1941. His famed essay of the samenyear, “The American Century,” hintednat a still broader thrust. The worldnof the 20th century, he wrote, “if it isnto come to life in any nobility of healthnand vigor, must be to a significantndegree an American Century.” Thenfundamental trouble was that whilenAmerica stood as the most powerfulnand vital nation on the globe, its citizensnwere unable to accommodatenthemselves spiritually and practicallynto that fact. The United States couldnnot endure. Luce concluded, unlessn”there courses strongly through itsn