Material World: A Global Family Portrait

This book shows the striking contrast between the United States and other nations with regard to the "stuff" of everyday life. The photos show families around the world with all of their household belongings brought outside on their front lawn. The US Family is a conservative model, I'm sure. There are many among us who have far more belongings than is seemly. The book will make...more

This book shows the striking contrast between the United States and other nations with regard to the "stuff" of everyday life. The photos show families around the world with all of their household belongings brought outside on their front lawn. The US Family is a conservative model, I'm sure. There are many among us who have far more belongings than is seemly. The book will make you think hard about the concept of have and have not in our world.   hide

The author/photographer went all over the world and had families from different countries lay out all their possessions in their front yard. He photographed them with their worldly belongings and you can see the differences in values, priorities and wealth. There's even a section featuring toilets from different countries -- funny. Great book to read with your children.

Older book, but I have used it extensively in my homeschool for teaching social sciences. Fascinating book. I wish the authors would come up with a follow up book, revisiting the families.

Just go to the library and spend an evening with this book. A window on the 'stuff' we live with and live on from around the world. I first saw this book in the form of photo exhibit at O'Hare Airport. It's hard to say just how representative, exactly, each chosen family is for their country, nor do I believe they've pulled out *all* the stuff from some homes, but it's...more

Just go to the library and spend an evening with this book. A window on the 'stuff' we live with and live on from around the world. I first saw this book in the form of photo exhibit at O'Hare Airport. It's hard to say just how representative, exactly, each chosen family is for their country, nor do I believe they've pulled out *all* the stuff from some homes, but it's enlightening nonetheless. Next, I'd like to see the same book but instead the theme would be food: dinner from around the world. (There's baby steps in that direction in this book...)   hide