Books on history of photography...

[ljb0904]

The "strip malls" thread has been interesting reading and there's good viewpoints there. I'm woefully ignorant on the history of photography, and thought I'd ask the collective genius here :D for some recommended reading in regards to the history and movements of photography?

I'd appreciate it!

[Kirk Gittings]

Beaumont Newhall, History of Photography. It is very accessible as were his lectures. I studied with him in the early 70's. But it does not go past like 85 or something?

[Brian Ellis]

The best and most thorough book I know of, used as a text in many college History of Photography courses, is "A World History of Photography" by Naomi Rosenblum.

[tim atherton]

Not very many pictures, but not too heavy - Steve Edwards - A Very Short Introduction to Photography (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPhotography-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions%2Fdp%2F0192801643&tag=museings-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)

And if you can get to see the Genius of Photography series, it does a pretty good job of this (there is also a book of the series (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FGenius-Photography-Gerry-Badger%2Fdp%2F1844003639&tag=museings-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325) not out in the US yet?)

[paulr]

The Rosenblum book might still be the standard textbook these days, but I don't have it.

The Newhall book is more of a "history of the history of photography" ... it's a pretty narrow look at the medium, and runs out of gas before it gets to anything at all contemporary. Everything after the 1950s is compressed into just a handful of pages.

I'm wondering if anything more interesting than Rosenblum has come along in the last few years.

[Andy K]

'The Genius Of Photography, How photography has changed our lives' by Gerry Badger. ISBN 978 184400 363 1

The book accompanies the BBC series of the same name and is an excellent read.

[Doug Howk]

The New History of Photography by Michel Frizot. Another, though not in a linear history perspective, is The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Both are excellent books.

[Martin Miller]

For a pretty good survey of the contemporary scene, I try Charlotte Cotton's The Photograph as Contemporary Art. Also, Jonathan Green's A Critical History of American Photography is excellent over the 1945-1985 period. I think this book was reprinted in recent years.

[Jim Jones]

An old, but useful, classic is Photography and the American Scene by Robert Taft. It was written in 1938 and covers only the first fifty years of Photography. Dover printed it for a long time, and it is available used from online booksellers.

[Greg Lockrey]

The Blue and Gray in Black and White a history of Civil War photography. By Bob Zeller. It also goes into the business side of those photographers.

[Robbie Shymanski]

The Time-Life series on photography is vastly underrated. Plus the quality of the printing has always impessed me for what was a mass marketed product.