Photographs are more than just an illustration of a moment in time, and offer a powerful way to interpret and understand the past in a way no other historical source can. American History in 15 Photographs introduces this power through the medium of 15 images representing key themes or eras in American History. Taking the reader from Reconstruction and Westward Expansion, to the Roaring Twenties and the World Wars, right up to Modern American Culture, it offers a refreshing, visual, introduction to the history of the United States through photographs. Teaching students how to understand, contextualise and interpret historic photography, and equipping them with skills to critically assess and analyse them, American History in 15 Photographs showcases both iconic and lesser-known images to tell a story about the American experience. Centring diverse histories, including discussions of race, class, gender, disability studies, environmental history, activism and social justice, it uses photographs not just as an illustration of a moment in time, but as a window to explore its greater meaning. This volume reorients photography as a major source for understanding the past, expanding not only the stories that we tell, but the way in which we interpret them.

Autorentext
Rebecca S. Wingo is the Director of Public History and an Associate Professor of History at University of Cincinnati, USA. A settler scholar of the Indigenous and American Wests, her work examines photography as a tool of empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. Lauren Tilton is the E. Claiborne Robins Professor of Liberal Arts and Digital Humanities at University of Richmond, USA, where she also directs the Distant Viewing Lab. Her research focuses on analyzing, developing, and applying digital and computational methods to the study of 20th and 21st century visual culture.

Klappentext
Photographs are more than just illustrations of a moment in time, they offer a powerful way to interpret and understand the past like no other historical source can. U.S. History in 15 Photographs introduces this power through 15 iconic and lesser-known photographs representing key eras in American History. Taking the reader from Reconstruction and Westward Expansion, to the Roaring Twenties and the World Wars, right up to Modern American Culture, it offers a refreshing, visual account of American history.

This volume reorients photography as a major source for understanding the past, expanding not only the stories that we tell, but the way we tell them. Teaching students how to understand, contextualize, and interpret historic photography, U.S. History in 15 Photographs centers diverse stories about the American experience by exploring topics around race, class, gender, disability, the environment, and social justice.

The scholars who contributed to this volume show that photographs are more just illustrations from the past, but foundational sources with surprising revelations about the past.

Inhalt

Introduction, Rebecca S. Wingo & Lauren Tilton

Chapter 1, Veiled History: Confederate Memorialization and the Politics of Race and Place after Emancipation, Julian Hayter

Chapter 2, Regarding Sovereign History as Incomplete: The Cherokee Outlet Land Opening Photographs, Laura Wexler

Chapter 3, Owned to Landowner: Black Homesteaders in the West
Jacob K. Friefeld

Chapter 4, Illuminating the Kodak Girl: Style and Marketing in the Gilded Age, Shannon Perich

Chapter 5, Native American Women & the Politics of Portraiture at the Turn of the 20th Century, Cathleen Cahill

Chapter 6, The Interwar Period (1918-1939): Internationalism in the Pacific, Courtney Sato

Chapter 7, Complicating the Legacy of Dorothea Lange's Photography, Linda Gordon

Chapter 8, Framing a Fractured System: The Bracero Program through Leonard Nadel's Lens, Mireya Loza

Chapter 9, Race and the Space Race: Cold War Computing at NASA, Nabeel Siddiqui & Thomas Haigh

Chapter 10, Tear Down, Rise Up: Redevelopment and Revolts in American Cities, Ann Pfau, David Hochfelder, & Stacy Sewell

Chapter 11, They Don't Own Us: Harlan County, the Brookside Coal Strike, and the Forgotten History of the Working Class, Grace Hale

Chapter 12, "Very Strong Women You Don't Mess With": The Section 504 Disability Rights Protest, Scot Danforth

Chapter 13, Documerica: Picturing Pollution in the 1970s, Lauren Tilton & Mia Lazar

Chapter 14, The Enola Gay and the Culture Wars, Rebecca S. Wingo

Chapter 15, Selfie as Self-Love: Coyote Park's Decolonizing of Photography, Ace Lehner