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Providing a new perspective on many of the old stories in the history of photography, Mary Warner Marien's book is a provocative and informative read. She shows how the medium developed in various historical, economic, political, and cultural settings worldwide, and discusses the many uses to which photography has been put -- from art to vernacular, documentary to photojournalism, and science to advertising.

Incorporating new research not covered in any other survey, Marien thoughtfully explores ideas generated by and about photography in each period, and examines photography's key role in contemporary art and today's increasing use of digital photography. With a panoply of arresting images by famous photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, August Sander, and Margaret Bourke-White -- as well as many unusual and seldom-seen pictures -- the book is as enticing to look at as its original ideas are stimulating to consider.

Marien (fine arts, Syracuse Univ.) winnows the abundant photographic production of the mid-19th to the late 20th centuries to harvest a concise and essential chronology of the medium's technologies and aesthetics. She opens with photography's prehistory, examining the many figures, theories, and experiments leading to its invention and thus extending and deepening the presentation in Naomi Rosenblum's A World History of Photography, which begins in 1839. She carefully considers the import of photography's initial public reception and considers how, in this age of aesthetic and ideological pluralism, photography influences our experiences of the world. Ambitious in her scope, she ranges worldwide, offering detailed profiles of regional styles and previously under-recognized photographers. She also departs from the traditional "grand narrative" of other retrospective histories to expose the sometimes myriad ideological paths within a particular historical or aesthetic debate. With 600 illustrations, 166 in color, this volume is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.-Savannah Schroll, formerly with Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.