Women

The photographs by Annie Leibovitz in Women, taken especially for the book, encompass a broad spectrum of subjects: a rap artist, an astronaut, two Supreme Court justices, farmers, coal miners, movie stars, showgirls, rodeo riders, socialites, reporters, dancers, a maid, a general, a surgeon, the First Lady of the United States, the secretary of state, a senator, rock stars, prostitutes, teachers, singers, athletes, poets, writers, painters, musicians, theater directors, political activists, performance artists, and business women. Each of these pictures must stand on its own, Susan Sontag writes in the essay that accompanies the portraits. But the ensemble says, So this is what women are now — as different, as varied, as heroic, as forlorn, as conventional, as unconventional as this.