"Brilliantly elucidates how an informed cultural historian sees and interprets American images through
the camera's eye."
--Daniel Aaron, Harvard University
Submitted by Publisher, February, 2002
Summary
Alan Trachtenberg reinterprets some of America's most significant photographs, presenting them not as static
images but rather as rich cultural texts suffused with meaning and historical content. Analyzing the work of such
luminaries as Mathew Brady, Timothy O'Sullivan, and Walker Evans, Trachtenberg eloquently articulates how the art
of photography has both followed and shaped the course of American history, and how images captured decades ago
provocatively illuminate the present.
