With essays by six leading scholars, this lavishly illustrated book surveys photography in the United States, from the invention of the daguerreotype through the pictorial movement at the end of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the impact of the medium on American culture, the book includes chapters on the Civil War, westward expansion, the rise of celebrity culture, and modernization. Throughout, the authors explore how photographs can be used as primary source documents to understand broader cultural, social and political ideas.

Essays by: Alan Trachtenberg, Barbara McCandless, Martha A. Sandweiss, Keith F. Davis, Peter Bacon Hales, Sarah Greenough