Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous

The first definitive biography of Weegee the Famous—photographer, psychic, fiend—from the author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid

Arthur Fellig’s ability to arrive at a crime scene mere moments after law enforcement was so uncanny that he became known as “Weegee,” after the Ouija board. Weegee documented better than any other photographer the crime, grit, and desperation of mid-century New York City. In Flash, we get a portrait not simply of the man (both deeply talented and flawed, whose masterful eye for capturing violence and sex intimated his own predilections) but also of the fascinating time and place that he occupied.

From self-taught immigrant kid to celebrity photographer to his late, hedonistic days—moving between the dark, dangerous streets of New York City, the glitzy and emptied out celebrity culture of Los Angeles, and the East Coast during the morally liberated days of the Sixties—Weegee lived a life just as worthy of documentation as the scenes he captured. Now, with Flash, we have the first definitive biography of the man known now as an innovator and a pioneer, an artist whose photographs still stand as some of the most masterful crime photos ever taken.