"Organized into chronological timeframes of approximately fifteen to forty years, each chapter examines photography through the lenses of art, science, social science, travel, war, fashion, the mass media, and individual practitioners.

Alongside these broad topics, the author seamlessly leads the reader through the most significant themes particular to the medium, including the nature of invention, the effect of mass media on morality, the use of imagery as a tool of Western colonialism, and the role of the photograph in advertising, radical politics, and family life."--BOOK JACKET.