John Shaw Billings was a master of the groundbreaking narrative prose style of Time magazine in the 1920s and a pioneer in photojournalism, playing a key role in developing the "photo essay," or story that was told through a filmic sequence of photographs and only spare, but suggestive, textual captions. As a managing editor for Time from 1933 to 1936 and then for Life from 1936 to 1944, Billings was a gifted enabler of the talents of staff members whose areas of expertise differed from his own. He also excelled in his ability to mediate disputes between politically diverse factions at Time and Life, to gain the respect of his staff due to his combination of geniality and strong will, and, perhaps more important, to maintain the favor of the editor in chief of Time, Henry R. Luce. This relationship of trust, built over three decades, allowed Billings to become one of...