Signed; Donna Ferrato - Living With The Enemy [Inscribed] - 1991

Copy in very good condition. Copy signed and inscribed by Ferrato.

Living with the Enemy (1991, first edition softcover) is a seminal and groundbreaking work of documentary photography by American photojournalist Donna Ferrato, featuring an insightful introduction by author and activist Ann Jones. Published by the Aperture Foundation, this large format (4to) photography book served as a vital catalyst in sparking an urgent national conversation about domestic violence, sexual assault, and women's rights.

The book is a raw, graphic, and deeply moving report on family violence, uncovering the hidden realities of ordinary women and the men who batter them.

In the early 1980s, while documenting a successful American family, Ferrato witnessed a self-made millionaire beating his wife. Haunted by the incident, she spent the next decade documenting the dark, often invisible side of domestic life.

Ferrato rode for over 6,000 hours with law enforcement on domestic abuse calls and embedded herself in emergency rooms, support groups, activist rallies, battered women's shelters, and prisons where women were held for killing their abusers in self-defense.

The book masterfully pairs stark, high-contrast black-and-white photographs with poignant text based directly on Ferrato's conversations with both the victims and perpetrators of abuse.

Introduction/Foreword: Ann Jones (with contributions by Stacey Kabat).

Upon release, Living with the Enemy was met with immense critical acclaim. Because magazines initially refused to publish the harrowing imagery, Ferrato relied on winning the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography in 1986 to finally get editors and publishers to take the project seriously.

The book's publication fundamentally transformed public consciousness, helping to raise massive public awareness, secure funding for shelters across the United States, and strengthen legal reforms against domestic violence. Original 1991 first-edition softcover copies are highly prized by collectors of humanistic photojournalism and feminist literature.