"In this first English translation of La France de Profil, Paul Strand's photographs, combined with commentary by the celebrated French poet Claude Roy, capture the essence of rural life in postwar France. Like Strand's renowned books, Time in New England and Un Paese, La France de Profil is a profound meditation on place. Strand's portraits of the young and old evoke a sense of history and character. Images of narrow alleys, old tobacco shops, sidewalk cafes, and open fields convey the textures and rhythms of the French countryside. His photographs are complemented by Roy's collages, made from small-town newspapers and his own wry, handwritten musings on French mentality and mores." "La France de Profil is not only a tribute to a way of life that still exists in the French countryside but a monument to the evocative power of skillfully synthesized pictures and text."--BOOK JACKET.