A new book brings back old memories

The photographs in this book are intended as reminders that, not many years ago, a relative normalcy prevailed. There are many kinds of normal. Life, obviously, has never been all sunshine and roses. I remember what the promise of America can bring. Let’s bring back knowledgeable civility. Open up to the lighter side of others. In that spirit, I offer up these photographic notes as a crib sheet to Recent American History 101.

It might make you wonder. You might find it fun. It might make you think. To the best of my knowledge, it’s all true.

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My Fellow Americans cover
  • Plane crash scene

What People are Saying …

Most photo books I can “read” in about 20 minutes and I really need not revisit. That is not the case with your well-packaged book… The more I look the more I find. I will be looking for quite a while.”
— Sandra Eisert
Picture editor, visual consultant, first White House photography editor
The books have arrived, but that’s not why I’m saying thank you. Thank you for the book itself. It is wonderful. The juxtaposition of photos of George Wallace and Barrack Obama is breathtaking. I’m so happy that you did this. It’s a tribute to you, to your work and to everyone who worked with you. It is the epitome of photojournalism.
— Mike Fancher
Retired executive editor, The Seattle Times
Gary’s journalistic photographs are a powerful — and historic —look at our country during the late 20th century.”
Pete Souza
Best-selling author and former Chief Official White House Photographer during the Obama and Reagan administrations
OMG. What an incredible book. I’ve read every word and looked at every picture. I love all of the asides, like “I still get shivers” next to the picture of Sinatra, and mentioning that Dustin Hoffman lived next door to Terry Robbins when a home-made bomb exploded in NY in 1969.”
— Molly T. Laflin
Retired professor, Bowling Green University
Excellent mix of the famous and ordinary folk. The book is like potato chips, once you start you have to keep turning pages. Loved the crusty cowboys. So smart of you to compile this record, it’s a keeper.”
— Bill Dietrich
1990 Pulitzer Prize winner, non-fiction and historical fiction author
I arose early this morning and took my time absorbing your book again. The more time I spend with it, the more I love it. The photographs are wonderful, of course, and I love the personal touch in the captions. Your voice is so clear, so poignant and so whimsical. Spread after spread, the photos play off each other, add more depth and cumulatively become a powerful statement about our American lives. Wow, Gary!”
— Chris Johns
Photographer and former editor-in-chief for National Geographic Magazine
My Fellow Americans is a remarkable visual retrospective of our nation and of the many heroes, villains and everymen who crossed the lens of gifted photojournalist Gary Settle. It is a voyage that at first evokes nostalgia for more innocent times, and then brings the realization that no times are as innocent as they might have seemed. This book is in fact a gift from Settle to his fellow Americans.”
— David Boardman
Dean of the Klein College of Media and Communication, Temple University
The images you captured choke me up, my friend, and stir a lot of feelings that I’ve bottled up in recent years. Tomorrow I will send you a check for another one.”
— Doug Bates
2006 Pulitzer Prize winner, newspaper reporter and editor. The Oregonian, The Seattle Times, The Register-Guard and The San Diego Union-Tribune

A look inside …