W. Eugene Smith (1918–1978) revolutionized the photo-essay form with the works he published in Life magazine between 1948 and 1956. This monograph reproduces images from six classic sequences: Country Doctor,which portrays the selfless and sometimes frustrating work of a doctor in rural America; Spanish Village, the most powerful photographic study of 1950s Spain; Nurse Midwife,which examines the life of a black woman in the American south; A Man of Mercy,which documents Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s humanitarian work in Africa; Pittsburgh, Smith’s first freelance assignment, previously unpublished; and Minamata, a photo-essay recording the effects caused by a mercury spill in a region inhabited by Japanese fishermen.Writings by W. Eugene Smith, clarifying his field techniques and guiding principles, are included here in an English-language insert, alongside the tale of his most praised photograph,“AWalk to a Paradise Garden,” and an essay on Spain in the 1950s, the setting for his Spanish Village essay.