The Camera at War: A History of War Photography from 1848 to the Present Day

Rating:
Summary: Stunning Reality
Review: If, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, then this 240-page beautifully-bound volume [21cm x 30cm], first published in London by Octopus Books Limited in 1986, is instantly expanded to 10,000 pages and more.

As indicated on the inside flaps of the dust cover, author Lewinski, the Senior Lecturer in photography and art history at the London College of Printing, "pays tribute to photographers such as Fenton, Seymour, Capa, Griffiths, Douglas Duncan and McCullin. These and many other ndividuals have displayed courage and creativity in their pusuit of images.

Poignant, graphic, and at times downright gruesome, the photographs are divided into five main parts, each with comprehensive background text:

Part One - Distant Witness 1848-1912 covering events like: The Crimean War [with a shot of the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death]; Secondrah Bagh, India; U.S. Civil War; Afghan War, 1879; Boer War; Spanish-American War.

Part Two - Dispassionate Observer - First World War and Spanish Civil War;

Part Three - Enlisted Combat - Second World War;

Part Four - Intimate Companion - Korea, Northern Ireland, Algeria, Middle East; Africa; Bangladesh, Lebanon.

Part Five - Intense Explorer - Vietnam/

A Postscript covers the impact of war specifically on Civilians. Children and Women, and there's a complete index and bibliography as well.

Once through this book and you'll never look at war the same way again.