Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is a non-fiction account of the life of three tenant farmer families in Alabama during the great depression. It is written by James Agee, and accompanied by black and white photographs taken by Walker Evans. Walker Evans had been photographing the lives of tenant farmers as part of a project funded by the government's Farm Security Administration. This project was then combined with Agee's writing, initially meant to be an article, to form the book.

This work is considered non-fiction but also has qualities of a memoir, as Agee does not shy away from discussing his own role and the feelings he has as he tries to get to know these tenant farmers; he and Evans were concerned that they will be viewed as spies, and as outsiders who could never totally understand the desperation these farmers face in their daily lives.

The farmers that Agee and Evans focus on were all living and farming in Alabama in the towns of Mills Hill, Greensboro, Tuscaloosa, and Moundville. The names of specific locations as well as the names of the families have been changed.

The perspective of the book swings between stories being told from the viewpoint of the farmers and their families, and then Agee's feelings about being viewed as an outsider who has come to profit from the misery of the people he is working with.

Evans's photographs are placed in the book without captions and serve to highlight the plight of the farmers.These powerful photographs show their gaunt faces and the moving physical evidence of their constant battle against starvation. Both Agee and Evans avoided politicizing their work and focused strictly on the families and Agee's feelings about the work they were doing.

The book focuses on the routines and the really mundane aspects of these farmer's lives and in doing so presents an indelible picture of the difficulty and unrelenting struggle these farmers faced. Their communities are also pictured and described in order to convey the widespread nature of their poverty.

The book is divided into three sections. The first consists entirely of Walker's photographs, without captions, giving the reader an opportunity to walk through these towns and lives without comment from the author.

The second section contains Agee's writing as well as photographs as he describes the towns and their inhabitants. He then writes several sections titled "Money," "Shelter," and "Food" that are focused on these aspects of the tenant farmers lives. They paint a picture of uncertainty as each morning brings with it the possibility that they will have none of those things at the end of that day.

The last section is called "Inductions" and it serves to break up the sense of voyeurism that a reader might feel and that Agee and Walker both struggled with, as well. The description of how the two were able to form relationships with the people they worked with forms a powerful counterweight to the photographs presented at the beginning of the book.