20C Photo History book recomendations

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

There's the Focal Encyclopedia that seems pretty good.


Kent in SD

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

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.

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

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