Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem

In 1976 a man was refused service at a restraurant in New York’s Fire Island Pines because he was in drag. In protest, a group from nearby Cherry Grove dressed in drag and “invaded” the Pines on the Fourth of July. The Invasion of the Pines has now become an annual Independence Day event, with LGBT and straight folks alike celebrating freedom. Susan Kravitz has been photographing the invasion for 30 years, and she shares 88 images of the even in her new book, Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem. They track the celebration from the height of the AIDS crisis to the days of marriage equality.

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With Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem, photographer Susan Kravitz tracks 30 years of the Fire Island Pines.

Photographer Susan Kravitz has captured one of Fire Island’s best-known annual events for posterity in a dazzling coffee table book.

Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem is billed as a “provocative, introspective, sad and funny” look at the Invasion of the Pines, a yearly tradition that brings a ferryboat of drag queens to New York’s premier gay beach resort for a raucous Fourth of July celebration. Kravitz’s book is a compilation of 30 years of photographs, from the 1980s until today. Fittingly, it will hit retailers July 4.

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New York – Photographs: 1967-2015 is an engaging collection of photographs taken of one of America and the world’s most fascinating cities as seen through the eyes of photographer, art director and award-winning designer Lloyd Ziff. Shot over the last 4 decades in classic black and white and contemporary color photography, Ziff’s New York captures the changing landscape of the city’s architecture, streets and people as only a seasoned New Yorker can.

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Also available as a 2 Volume Box Set

Los Angeles – Photographs: 1967-2015 is a superb collection of photographs taken of one of America and the world’s most fascinating cities as seen through the eyes of photographer, art director and award-winning designer Lloyd Ziff. Shot over the last 4 decades in classic black and white and contemporary color photography, Ziff’s Los Angeles captures the changing landscape of the city’s architecture, streets and people as only a seasoned Angeleno can.

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Also available as a 2 Volume Box Set

Mascara, Mirth and Mayhem: Independence Day on Fire Island is an exuberant photographic document that celebrates four decades of an event known as “the Invasion of the Pines” by members of the neighboring LGBT community of Cherry Grove. Initially planned to shock their staid neighbors and protest their snobbery, this queenly invasion on every July 4 th, is a moment on Fire Island equal to Stonewall in Greenwich Village. It has grown in size and extravagance each year to become a joyful revelry of creative cross-dressing and a true independence day party.

The history of the original protest Invasion, along with selected interviews of participants, then and now, augment Susan Kravitz’s photographs of this elaborately theatrical event taken over a period of 30 years.

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