The book appeared in 1961 amidst much international critical acclaim.

Hugh Edwards, the late Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago wrote in Infinity, the magazine of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, "Probably the bravest photographic book of the recent year.... The juxtaposition of text and pictures is done with respect and understanding. The result is matched only by Paul Strand's and Cesare Zavattini's Un Paesa."