{"id":78748,"date":"2025-03-18T20:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T00:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=78748"},"modified":"2025-03-18T20:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T00:48:09","slug":"book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Book Feature:<\/strong> <em>George Masa: A Life Reimagined<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel, Authors<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-78750\" src=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"296\" \/>A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers. Bonesteel, a documentary filmmaker who wrote and directed <em>The Mystery of George Masa<\/em> (2002), discovered while making the film a bundle of letters Masa left behind with the family with whom he boarded. These letters helped unlock some of Masa\u2019s previously unknown past.<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s title references how Masa often reshaped his own life. \u201cAs a young man in Japan, he reimagined his life in coming to the US in 1906,\u201d McCue says. \u201cHe reimagined his life again nearly a decade later when he \u2018launched out on an adventure,\u2019 leaving the more familiar west coast communities where he\u2019d lived and worked, and moving to Asheville. Hired as an \u2018ironing man\u2019 at the Grove Park Inn, he reimagined his life once again and \u2018worked like hell, studied like hell and got good reputation\u2019 to become an accomplished photographer, hired by the Vanderbilts, praised by his contemporaries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although he lived only to the age of 48, Masa experienced WWI, the flu epidemic, a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and the Great Depression, among other hurdles. \u201cPerseverance is such an important characteristic needed to create art, conservation, social change or, visually, any goal or objective,\u201d says Bonesteel. \u201cI think Masa\u2019s story\u2014and I hope the book\u2014speaks to it clearly, illustrates and maybe inspires folks to that end: \u2018Never surrender.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>George Masa: A Life Reimagined, <em>September, 2024, biography, paperback, $28.95, by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel, and published by Smokies Life, Gatlinburg, TN.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":78750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined - The Laurel of Asheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Laurel of Asheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thelaurelofasheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T00:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amy Pryor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AshevilleLaurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AshevilleLaurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Pryor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amy Pryor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\"},\"headline\":\"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-19T00:48:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":281,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arts\",\"Literature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/\",\"name\":\"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined - The Laurel of Asheville\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-19T00:48:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\"},\"description\":\"A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":688},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Laurel of Asheville\",\"description\":\"The Arts and Culture of Communities Across the Mountains\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\",\"name\":\"Amy Pryor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4afbb9c963c7a0e8f027aafb31772d626615a03db2472868007f1e429a48cc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4afbb9c963c7a0e8f027aafb31772d626615a03db2472868007f1e429a48cc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4afbb9c963c7a0e8f027aafb31772d626615a03db2472868007f1e429a48cc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amy Pryor\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined - The Laurel of Asheville","description":"A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined - The Laurel of Asheville","og_description":"A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.","og_url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/","og_site_name":"The Laurel of Asheville","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thelaurelofasheville","article_published_time":"2025-03-19T00:48:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":688,"url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amy Pryor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AshevilleLaurel","twitter_site":"@AshevilleLaurel","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amy Pryor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/"},"author":{"name":"Amy Pryor","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/#\/schema\/person\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00"},"headline":"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined","datePublished":"2025-03-19T00:48:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/"},"wordCount":281,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg","articleSection":["Arts","Literature"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/","url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/","name":"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined - The Laurel of Asheville","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-19T00:48:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/#\/schema\/person\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00"},"description":"A collaborative biography by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel tells the story of photographer and conservationist George Masa, whose life has, until now, offered more questions than answers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Book-Feature-2-George-Masa-front-cover-copy-e1742345281156.jpg","width":1080,"height":688},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-george-masa-a-life-reimagined\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Book Feature: George Masa: A Life Reimagined"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/","name":"The Laurel of Asheville","description":"The Arts and Culture of Communities Across the Mountains","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/#\/schema\/person\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00","name":"Amy Pryor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4afbb9c963c7a0e8f027aafb31772d626615a03db2472868007f1e429a48cc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4afbb9c963c7a0e8f027aafb31772d626615a03db2472868007f1e429a48cc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4afbb9c963c7a0e8f027aafb31772d626615a03db2472868007f1e429a48cc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amy Pryor"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78751,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78748\/revisions\/78751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}