November 1, 2017
Gr 6 Up-The stories of those involved in some of the most prominent photographs in U.S. history. Edward S. Curtis spent his career perpetuating stereotypes when he depicted Native Americans, Matthew Brady recorded the Civil War, astronauts took pictures from space, and Ellis Island workers photographed immigrants. The histories are matter-of-fact and comprehensive, and the featured photographers are realistically portrayed. Brady suffered money problems, and Williams was not even the photographer at Ellis Island but its controversial director. NASA Takes Photography into Space differs from the others in that the focus is on technological challenges. While the topics are intriguing, the narrative is dull and much of the content is available elsewhere. The pictures are reproduced well, but there are too few. VERDICT Uninteresting narratives makes these a secondary purchase at best.
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2018
Cornell explores Mathew Brady's Civil War photographs and their role in the development of photojournalism. In addition to the war itself, this series installment focuses on Brady's life and career--with sections on technical and practical aspects of photography at the time--resulting in a compelling interplay of history, photography, and biography. Additional information on key photographs appended. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind.
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