War Primer 2 is based on Bertholt Brecht's book "Kriegsfibel" from 1955, for the MACK book the edition from 1998 was used.

Ok, I confess, it was the first photobook ever I downloaded. Could not get my hands on one of the 100 copies MACK sold in 2011 - so that's the good part, you can easily download at no cost (http://mappeditions.com/publications/war-primer-2 ). I tried both, EPUB in Chrome and the version for iPad in the iBook-Reader. To be honest, both were very unsatisfying to use, not only for a book-lover but for a "user" as well. Flipping pages, scrolling, zooming (if possible), reading text is not the thing for me and a photobook.

But if you forget about that and concentrate on the photos (in the book - were they sticked completly to the page or could you look behind? - the electronic version won't let you know) even on the screen the "book" starts to work. Photos were mostly taken from the net (sometimes credited when known or just referenced by the URL) and placed over the original page. I had the advantage to have a copy of Brecht's book. So reading the text below the original page (in German, made it easier even more) looking at the pic Broomberg/Chanarin selected on screen - made a complex reading experience in the end. The remake for me is not only a modernized version, it sometimes is more cynical, more sad, more brutal and yes, I caught myself laughing too. Great and too bad the printrun was only 100 to make it an easier visual experience.

Below are a few pages/screenshots, I took the same pages that I show on 

http://www.josefchladek.com/book/bertolt_brecht_-_kriegsfibel

So you might try and compare (putting two browser-windows side by side)

Pages: 100+
Place: London
Year: 2012
Publisher: MACK/MAPP
Size: 33 x 24 cm (approx.)

Included in "The Photobook: A History Volume III" by Parr/Badger
>> see more Vol. III picks here

---

Latest updates