The Most Iconic Photographs of All Time - LIFE

If you were looking for a relaxing afternoon on the water, the log canoe would not be the boat for you.
In its Aug. 9, 1954 issue, LIFE magazine wrote about a temperamental and demanding form of watercraft that was popular in the Chesapeake Bay area. The magazine described the log canoe as ‘fast, easily flipped, and tricky to handle.”...

In 1950, LIFE Photographer Mark Kauffman captured the so-called “Coca-Colonization” of the sugary soft drink’s formal introduction to France. The drink had been unofficially available for consumption in France before World War II, and the first bottle...

The following is excerpted from the new LIFE special edition Benjamin Franklin: The Patriot Who Changed the World, available at newsstands and online:
On August 27, 1783, a week before he signed the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and his grandson Temple stood with 50,000 Parisians on the Champ de Mars, a large field where the Eiffel Tower now looms. There they...

The ancient city of Venice draws 30 million visitors a year, and for good reason. The canals, the architecture, the art, the food, the singular beauty—there’s no place in the world like it. The city’s only drawback, you could argue, is its popularity...