The Mexican-American War (1846–48) was the first war to be photographed. Drawing upon a rare collection of never-before-published war daguerreotypes made during the conflict, this book looks at the different tools sketch artists, printmakers and photographers used to document unfolding events. Why, the book asks, was it so difficult for the new medium of photography to compete with the older sorts of battlefield art?

Winner: American Historical Print Collectors Society Award, Outstanding Publication of 1990; Vasari Award (Dallas Museum of Art), Outstanding Art Book, 1989