Lens of War : Exploring Iconic Photographs of the Civil War - J. Matthew Gallman

Lens of War

Exploring Iconic Photographs of the Civil War

By: J. Matthew Gallman (Editor), Gary W. Gallagher (Editor)

Hardcover | 15 April 2015

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Lens of War grew out of an invitation to leading historians of the Civil War to select and reflect upon a single photograph. Each could choose any image and interpret it in personal and scholarly terms. The result is a remarkable set of essays by twenty-seven scholars whose numerous volumes on the Civil War have explored military, cultural, political, African American, women's, and environmental history.

The essays describe a wide array of photo- graphs and present an eclectic approach to the assignment, organized by topic: Leaders, Soldiers, Civilians, Victims, and Places. Readers will rediscover familiar photographs and figures examined in unfamiliar ways, as well as discover little-known photographs that afford intriguing perspectives. All the images are reproduced with exquisite care. Readers fascinated by the Civil War will want this unique book on their shelves, and lovers of photography will value the images and the creative, evocative reflections offered in these essays.

Contributors: Stephen Berry, William A. Blair, Stephen Cushman, Gary W. Gallagher, J. Matthew Gallman, Judith A. Giesberg, Joseph T. Glatthaar, Thavolia Glymph, Earl J. Hess, Harold Holzer, Caroline E. Janney, James Marten, Kathryn Shively Meier, Megan Kate Nelson, Susan Eva O'Donovan, T. Michael Parrish, Ethan S. Rafuse, Carol Reardon, James I. Robertson Jr., Jane E. Schultz, Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Brooks D. Simpson, Daniel E. Sutherland, Emory M. Thomas, Elizabeth R. Varon, Joan Waugh, Steven E. Woodworth.
Industry Reviews
Lens of War is refreshingly episodic and individualized, with the best essays being deeply personal, Montaignean explorations of why the war still matters to individuals today.--Kenyon Gradert "Los Angeles Review of Books"
Lens of War isn't intended for coffee tables. . . . It is not so much a collection of Civil War photographs as a book about the insight photography brings to our understanding of the war. . . . The photographs in Lens of War are doorways to lives long past; the words walk us through their worlds.--Allen Barra "America's Civil War Magazine"
Lens of War meets the promise of the simple observation that prompted its creation. Additionally, this book provides an excellent analysis of representative images. Perhaps most importantly however, these timeless photographs are the central focus of this volume--a rare event among academics.-- "Military Images magazine"
The pioneering cameramen of the Civil War wrought shocking images that stir and haunt us still. Lens of War is likewise groundbreaking, an album of essays that mines 1860s photographs for new insight into the war and its memory. Images I've stared at since boyhood--and others I'd never seen--come into fresh focus through the scholarly yet personal gaze of leading historians. This revelatory and highly readable book will captivate new and longtime students of the Civil War alike.--Tony Horwitz "author of Confederates in the Attic and Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War"
The UnCivil Wars series . . . describes itself as 'dedicated to new ways of seeing and telling the American Civil War.' Lens of War actually manages to tell the war by seeing it. Moreover, it illuminates not only how photographs shape our understandings and memories of the war, but also how we teach it, and how images--even in black and white--will always hold a special power the written world alone simply cannot supply. With all of this in mind, the book is highly recommended to historians of photography and visual culture (it even includes a very helpful resource on Civil War photographic histories), but for historians of the Civil War it is--without question--a must read. --Matthew C. Hulbert "Civil War Monitor"
This fascinating volume . . . offers powerful insights into history and historians. . . . Lens of War is a sometimes moving and always enjoyable book to read.--Lawrence Kreiser Jr. "The Journal of Southern History"

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