Overview

In this critical study, Susie Linfield passionately urges us to look at photographs of political violence, going against those critics who claim these images are exploitative, deceitful and even pornographic. Linfield argues that viewing such photographs, and learning to see the people in them, is an ethically and politically necessary act.

Linfield makes her case by thoroughly exploring the historical connection between photojournalism and the rise of human rights campaigning. She examines the work of Robert Capa, James Nachtwey and Gilles Peress, and asks how photography can respond to the increasingly nihilistic trajectory of modern warfare.

Linfield's text is seriously presented and well structured, with remarkably intelligent use of photographic illustrations.