SOME OF THE BEST NEW BOOKS ON THE MARKET

Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times

(Yale University Press, $45 Usd) More noted for his paintings, Ben Shahn photographed the streets New York from 1932 to 1935. The photos, like his paintings, are socially concious-views of Depression-era youth gangs and the jobless prevail. The little-known work gets full exposure here.

Digital Diaries

by Natacha Merritt (Taschen, $29.99 Usd). Natacha Merrit admits that she doesn't know much about photography. But her collection of hard-core photos of her own sex-life, made with digital point-and-shoot cameras, presents captivating vignettes. Of photography and sex she says simply, "I just can't do one without the other." Tashen, the noted published of erotica, does it again!

Botanica

by Tom Baril (Arena Editions, $75.00 Usd). Another popular modern artist, Baril has recently created graphic floral images that are wonderful additions to the tradition of photographic botanical studies. Baril, who was once Robert Maplethorpe's printer, knows that sometimes a flower is just a flower, and that sometimes it isn't. The reproductions is exquisite.