20C Photo History book recomendations

[SteveH]

After having visited the recent Eastman Old Masters' exhibition I was reminded of my lack of any decent comprehensive photo history books on my shelf. I used to get these from the local library but that was an age and a world away.

What are your recomendations for good 20th C photo history books?
I don't need much 19th C as I have books on that era. Prefer books on European as well as American Photography but even just US will do.

BTW any book also needs a decent repro of Sheeler's "Criss-Crossed Conveyors" as I find this missing in too many books (as well as the Eastman Exhibition) as it is to my mind the classic image of American industrialism.
cheers
Steve

[Two23]

There's the Focal Encyclopedia that seems pretty good.


Kent in SD

[cowanw]

And for cheap Taschen's 20th Century Photography which has the advantage of a stronger European influence than most followers of Newhall.

[Brian Ellis]

The most comprehensive book on the history of photography that I have is "A World History of Photography" by Naomi Rosenblum. It gives about equal weight to European and American photography and has work by Sheeler but I don't know if it has the particular photograph you want and I'm too lazy to check. But if you're really serious about not buying a book unless it has that particular photograph let me know and I'll look.

The only history of photography book I have that's confined to the 20th century is "American Photographs: A Century of Images" but obviously that doesn't include Europe.

[Raymond Bleesz]

Hello--Besides Rosenblum's book which is a "classic", I might suggest the following:
Photography: A Cultural History by Mary Waqrner Marien, a more recent history than Rosenblum's I believe, and a rather unique look at the history of photography via the "cameras" used over time, The History of Photography As Seen Through The Spira Collection" (Aperature).

All three would be a nice start for your library or research.

Raymond

[Mark Sampson]

The photo history class I took last fall used Robert Hirsch's 'Seizing the Light'.